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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29468109">Shuichi and Kaede's Nocturne of Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signel_chan/pseuds/Signel_chan'>Signel_chan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>seeds of a future [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Babies, Birthday, Body Image, Childbirth, Crimes &amp; Criminals, Drama, Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Halloween, Parenthood, Pregnancy, oh trust me this one gets darker than ultimate love song</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 21:06:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>110,734</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29468109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signel_chan/pseuds/Signel_chan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the most innocent of mistakes turn a life that's recently been thrown on its head completely upside down. For a pair of new parents, finding out that their still-infant daughter is going to be a big sister (and sooner than they'd ever imagined would happen) comes as quite a shock, but one thing's for certain: things this time will be just as loving as the first time around. </p><p>In simpler terms, Shuichi and Kaede really have a lot of explaining and work to do.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>seeds of a future [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417822</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>one</em>.</p><p>Finding the time to meet with her friends on a regular basis was difficult for Kaede, if not only because she had to contend with their schedules, but with Shuichi’s as well. She couldn’t exactly leave home if he wasn’t there, and knowing when he’d be there was more often than not guesswork. At least Maki and Tenko both had more consistent times they were both available, and they were (somewhat) understanding of the challenges currently going on in Kaede’s life.</p><p>Whenever it was a night that she knew the other two would be free, and Shuichi came home from the office early enough for her to be able to arrange a time with the others, she would give him a pleading look the moment he came in the front door. “You know, I never took you as someone who’d want to be going out to the gym with her friends,” he would teasingly reply every day, the current one no exception, making sure to close the door tightly and lock it, before approaching her to steal a quick kiss. “But, like always, you know I’ll keep things under control here while you’re out.”</p><p>“Just have to make sure you don’t, like, have other plans that would make you have to leave,” she pointed out, knowing very well that the life of a detective had always meant that there was a chance him coming home was not an indication that he would be staying there. Some days she wished he would have to back out on his word, as the workouts she had to endure with the others were incredibly far from fun, but going through them was something she felt obligated to do. As much as she loved being a mother, she still hadn’t fully accepted some of the changes that she’d gone through to get there, and with her friends supporting her she was working to get herself back to as close to how she’d looked before she’d had the baby in the first place.</p><p>And speaking of that baby… “So, where’s Aika right now?” Shuichi asked, stepping around Kaede to take a look around their otherwise empty-of-people living room. “Did you put her somewhere and forget about her?”</p><p>“How could I ever do that?” It was quite unusual for her to greet him at the door without having Aika either in her arms or within a few steps of where she was, but Kaede knew exactly where the baby was: laying in her crib for a nap, which had started not but half an hour before. After telling him that, she added, “But I know that if she’s asleep now, she’ll be wide awake while I’m gone, and if you don’t want to deal with that after everything you put up with at work, I totally get it.”</p><p>“Sometimes I think you don’t want to actually go as much as you pretend you do,” he said, watching his wife squirm at his correct deduction. “Come on, Kaede, you know that they’ll understand if you stop going with them. I’ve been in that position before, except with Kaito at the helm of the decision-making. Saying no gets things done.”</p><p>She inhaled deeply, before turning to head elsewhere in the house, hoping he wasn’t going to follow her. There was no such luck, as he came into their bedroom right after she did. “I know I could just say no, but I know why they want me to go with them and I agree with the reason, I really do. It just...sometimes it’s not fun to be there without you.”</p><p>“You could always start working out at home instead,” Shuichi suggested, slipping his arms out of his dress jacket he’d been wearing for work to set it carefully down on the bed. “It wouldn’t be quite the same, but unless we’re going to arrange for someone to babysit, that’s the only option I see to make that happen.”</p><p>It was a thought that had crossed Kaede’s mind a few times in the month she’d been meeting with her friends at the gym, but she knew why that wasn’t something she felt would benefit her. “I’m not getting rid of my piano to make space for all of the machines we’d need if anything was ever going to get done,” she told him, as she began to play with the ends of her long, unwashed hair. Going out to the gym had become such a part of her routine that she saved her infrequent shower times for after she’d come home from one such outing, so that she wasn’t spending all of her time hiding out in the water. “Maki says that there’s no way I’m going to make any progress without some of those machines, and Tenko doesn’t think there’s enough space in here with the piano to do a good floor setup.”</p><p>“And they’d certainly know more about this than me, sorry to suggest it.” Now unbuttoning the stuffy shirt he’d been wearing under his jacket, Shuichi made quick work of getting it off and switching into something much less formal and more comfortable, before noticing that all Kaede was doing was fiddling with her hair and pacing back and forth. “Something’s telling me this isn’t all that’s on your mind. Anything else you want to talk to me about?”</p><p>“I’m not really sure how to put any of this into words,” she admitted, stopping her pacing right where she could see her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. “But I guess I feel obligated to listen to them because they both want what’s best for me and how I look, and even though it’s super hard to commit with everything going on, I want to be the best me I can be. Which I guess is the old me, in terms of how I look.” Her finger untwirled itself from her hair as it moved to stroke her jawline, which had become slightly more rounded when she’d been pregnant, and hadn’t changed after (much like the rest of her). “I just want to be attractive and skinny and light enough for you to lift and carry around and—”</p><p>“Are you listening to yourself right now? You’re forgetting something incredibly important and I need you to think that through for a moment!” Rushing over to her to wrap her in a tender hug, Shuichi could feel her giving a long sigh as he pressed his head against hers, letting her know that he was there for her no matter what. “Kaede, I can’t say that I understand why you feel how you do, or even what you’re feeling at all, but I can say that you’re being unrealistic and rude to yourself and you need to stop.”</p><p>“—and why would you say that?” Now with him in the reflection she felt that the extent of all of the little curves and lumps she’d gained over the previous year was all the more prominent, being compared against his still-thin frame. “I think it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to want to go back to how they looked before.”</p><p>He nodded, before letting go of her to take a step back. “It is reasonable to want that, sure, but you’re beating yourself up over something natural and life-changing. You look the way you look because you <em>grew</em> someone inside you, Kaede, please don’t forget that part of it.”</p><p>Her lower lip trembled, that fact being something that she could never forget but it also not being something that she felt could justify her appearance still being as it was, but before she could say anything a whine came into the room, flooding their ears via the speaker set up by their bed. “I’ll go check on her so you can finish changing,” she said, a saddened tone to her voice, and she walked out without making sure he was fine with that arrangement. Aika’s room took five seconds to get to, and when she entered she was treated to hearing that same whine at a louder volume. “Oh, it’s going to be okay,” she mumbled, approaching the crib to see the squirming dark-haired girl laying on the bottom, her face reddened in frustration. As she picked her up, she said, “Mama’s got you, you’re safe with me right now.”</p><p>Just the act of picking her up was not enough to get Aika to stop fussing, but after walking out of the room with her and taking her over to the piano bench, she’d quieted down to a softer level, until the walking stopped as Kaede was sitting down with her. Hearing the crying picking up out in the living room, Shuichi took that as his cue to get changed faster and to see what he could do to help, but when he got to the bedroom door he heard the distinct sound of live piano music beginning to be played, followed by the crying becoming softer and softer until it wasn’t audible any longer.</p><p>It was the same song played every time that the piano was selected as the way to calm Aika down, and even though it had been the choice for nearly four months straight, it wasn’t anything either parent had grown tired of. Aika’s Lullaby was fulfilling its duty and neither of them could complain about that, especially since it had bought them countless quiet hours after sending the baby back to sleep with its calming notes. “We should find a way to record this in the best quality possible, so that when you’re not here I have access to it,” Shuichi had said once upon a time, to which Kaede had laughed and insisted that a recording wouldn’t have the same impact, and he was inclined to agree with it after hearing how fast it worked time and time again.</p><p>When he got out to near the piano, he could see that Kaede was playing the song with her eyes closed, humming the notes along with her fingers hitting the keys, while Aika was propped up against her, not quite asleep but much calmer than she had been before. When she noticed that she was no longer the only adult in the room the playing slowed until the last note lingered in the air for a few calm seconds. “You know, you’re allowed to sit and listen to me play, you don’t have to stand back in awe,” she whispered, turning her head to see Shuichi hovering behind her. “I’m not afraid to play to an audience.”</p><p>“I’m aware, but sometimes it’s best to stay standing, just in case I need to do something like this.” He came forward and carefully, with tender fingers that meant no harm, grabbed Aika and picked her up, cradling her in the crook of one elbow with the other hand for support. “I assume it’ll be like usual and we’ll eat when you get back?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’ll be the plan we go with.” Realizing that she hadn’t told either Maki or Tenko that she was down to go that night, Kaede considered telling Shuichi that she’d be out even later but kept it to herself, in case it would make him proud of her for going a bit longer. “I’ll get ready and head out now, but only if you’re sure you’ve got this tonight.”</p><p>With a no-nonsense tone, he replied, “Kaede, this isn’t the first time I’ve been left here with her, I’ve done it all those other times and I’ll do it tonight as well. Don’t go if you don’t want to, that’s all I’m going to say.” He was pushing that perspective, much to her dismay and reluctance to listen to it, but she couldn’t give in to his side of things and so she changed into the workout clothes she’d been convinced to buy, made sure she had everything she needed for the night, and headed out after one more kiss with her husband and several soft pecks onto her daughter’s forehead.</p><p>Once she was outside the house, Kaede finally sent messages to her friends to let them know to meet her at the gym as soon as they could get there, and that she was on her way. The drive was uneventful, her barely able to check her rearview mirror whenever she needed to for fear of seeing her reflection and seeing her true feelings towards what was going on plastered across her face. She hated these workouts, even if they were with friends and meant to make her feel better about herself; she hated being away from Shuichi during time they should have been spending together and she hated being away from Aika for any amount of time, her heart wholly belonging to that little girl. If it wasn’t for the fact that she knew she’d never hear the end of it from at least one of the two friends if she decided to stop attending the workouts, she would do it without missing a beat, at least for a little while.</p><p>By the time she arrived in the gym parking lot, she could already see Tenko standing outside the front doors, her toned body on full display in her choice of workout gear, giving off a level of confidence with her appearance that made Kaede ultimately feel worse about herself. She’d never been one who’d been able to share that much skin on a regular basis, but she’d at least formerly indulged in bikinis and cute lingerie every so often, but she felt that doing so with her current, post-baby body would be doing a disservice to anyone who had to see it. “This is all being done to help me,” she reminded herself, taking a few deep breaths in her car before getting out and heading up to meet Tenko, who greeted her with a smile.</p><p>“Every time I see you coming up here, I see a bit more of the old, confident Kaede,” Tenko said to her as she waved her over, making Kaede shrink into her shoulders for a moment. “I mean that as a compliment! When we first got you here, you were so ashamed of how you looked, but now you’re at least not hiding under a jacket in summer weather, which is progress if I’ve ever seen it!”</p><p>“Oh, right, thank you,” she replied, having forgotten about how, after they’d initially bought the workout clothes, she’d been mortified to see how they clung tightly to all of her excesses, to the point that she’d come in wearing one of her jackets she’d bought late in her pregnancy, letting it bury her in extra fabric she couldn’t believe she’d stretched out just months before. “I guess all of this has done at least a little work, but there’s still a lot to get sorted out before I’m truly my confident self again.”</p><p>“Then let’s not stand here talking and get right to the warm-up!” Thrusting both of her hands into the air in excited pumps, Tenko turned and jogged into the building, the automatic doors moving just fast enough for her to not run into them. Lacking all of the enthusiasm her friend shared, Kaede walked in after her, occasionally checking over her shoulder to see if Maki was following her but finding no one there.</p><p>They met up again in one of the back rooms, the floor and walls padded and reinforced, and by the time Kaede had gotten there Tenko had already gotten out two mats for them to work on. “We’ll start with some stretching, then get into the cardio, and hopefully Maki will be here by then so we can go out onto the machines with her. Otherwise, I’ll be having you work on some self-defense skills while we wait, which are incredibly important to have, unless you wanna rely on that string-bean of a degenerate to protect you and your precious little one,” Tenko rambled, taking her spot at the head of one of the mats while Kaede silently prayed that Maki would be there sooner rather than later, no matter how useful self-defense would have been.</p><p>Together they stretched for several minutes, giving special attention to legs and the core, which were the two biggest problem spots that Kaede felt she had, and while the stretches were not easy in the slightest, she did better with them then than she had the first time she’d ever been there, or even the previous time she’d done a workout. The progress did not go unnoticed by Tenko, who was beaming when she counted off higher-than-usual numbers for Kaede’s stretches. Once they’d finished up there it was to laps, which they ran around the perimeter of the room, Tenko making sure she didn’t outpace Kaede to keep her motivated, and they set the number there to one higher than they’d done the meeting before.</p><p>But when they hit that number of laps, Maki still hadn’t come in, and to keep from breaking into the training she didn’t want from Tenko in particular, Kaede suggested, “Let’s run a few more laps, I feel like I have the energy to do it right now.” In reality her legs were already feeling like jelly and her heart was racing in a chest that ached with every breath, but she was trying to buy time however she could.</p><p>“Those are words I was not expecting from you,” Tenko admitted, stretching her legs seemingly in preparation for another run, “but if you’re feeling like you have energy, I have a much more challenging task for you. Come on, back to your mat.” Kaede’s whole demeanor dropped at the perceived failure, but when it was all said and done she wished she’d not said anything at all and had just let Tenko start training her instead. The task she’d come up with was a rapid-fire set of four different workouts in numbered increments, dropping a repetition every time they’d finished a set, and it took all of her dwindling strength at the end for Kaede not to drop on the floor with how much her legs ached.</p><p>Now that she was thoroughly exhausted, she didn’t know what was going to get accomplished, and things were not made any better by that being when Maki finally came into their room, her long hair pulled up into a high ponytail that swung neatly behind her with every step. “Why does Kaede look like you’ve put her through hell?” she asked, seeing how Kaede was literally swaying where she stood. “Tenko, we’ve talked about this, you’re not working with someone with endurance like I’ve got, you’re working with someone we’re trying to build up.”</p><p>“She’s the one who asked for it,” Tenko retorted, putting her hands on her hips. “Besides, she can take a breather while you stretch yourself out.”</p><p>“Already took care of that while I waited for Kaito to get his ass in gear to bring me over here.” Throwing her belongings down against the wall where everyone else’s was, Maki bent down to pick up Kaede’s water bottle and bring it to her, as a gesture of kindness. “I didn’t know he was going to take that long to get ready to go, I’d have just walked if I’d known.”</p><p>While Kaede took her water and started drinking it forcefully, the feeling of the cold liquid down her throat somewhat like heaven, Tenko began ragging on Kaito like she had nothing better to do, creating a look of murderous intent in Maki’s eyes with every word, which resulted in the two of them having a race to settle things non-violently. Unable to do much more than watch them, Kaede downed half her water before they’d finished up, only to start feeling like it was going to make her sick if she did anything more than sit down right then. Her stomach was churning when her friends remembered she was there and stopped their dispute to get back to the reason they were there in the first place, and it only got worse as they left the room and headed out to some of the machines.</p><p>For a while, as they were working on ellipticals and stair-steppers, it seemed like things were calming down and that she was going to be fine, but once they moved over to some of the weight machines and she had to lay down to use them, she could feel the pressuring building back up inside her. “I’m not feeling very good,” she had to tell them while her body was contorted to have her legs pressing out a weight that was hanging above her, her knees getting close to her face due to it. “I think I drank too much water while you were racing earlier, I think I’m going to throw up.”</p><p>“That’d be a sensation you’d be familiar with, wouldn’t it?” Maki asked her, working to remove weights from the machine to get her out from under it. “Go, take care of that so we’re not here scrubbing metal and concrete until midnight. Tenko can do her reps while you’re gone, and I’m not playing easy with her tonight.”</p><p>Nodding, thankful that Maki wasn’t considering her a faker or a liar for what she’d said, Kaede excused herself and went right to the closest bathroom, where she sat on the cold floor and hoped that the feeling would pass her quickly. Any heaves she gave were dry ones, thankfully, and when she finally stood up without having expelled anything she didn’t feel nearly as bad as she had before. After washing her hands and trying to not look at her engorged chest (which she knew was a sign that going home would be something that happened sooner rather than later), she went back out to meet her friends at the same machine they’d been at before, Tenko lying flat on the bench with her leg muscles twitching every few seconds.</p><p>“She had me pressing twice my weight,” Tenko gasped, slowly sitting up and rubbing at the muscles that were spasming. “Which I know isn’t as much as I could do, probably, but it wasn’t what I was expecting, that’s for sure.”</p><p>“I said I wasn’t playing easy,” Maki reminded, before giving Kaede a once-over. “You don’t seem like you were in there blowing chunks, so what’s up? False feeling?”</p><p>Kaede shrugged, waiting for Tenko to move so that she could take back the bench and resume her workout. “It just sort of passed without doing anything, which is really a waste of time when I have to get home to feed a baby.”</p><p>Due to the machine being in the way, she was unable to see the sour expression on Maki’s face when she’d heard those last few words. “Tragic, guess you’ll have to work a bit harder while you’re still here, then,” she said, putting weights back into the machine. “I’ll be easier on you than I was on Tenko, but I’m not going to have you doing the bare minimum. If you really want to look like you never had a kid, you’ve got to put in the work for it.”</p><p>“Trust me, I’m aware.” She could hear the bitterness in Maki’s voice, although it came as no surprise to hear it. No matter what she’d done, no matter how many times she’d let Maki be with Aika, it hadn’t changed her outlook on children in general, and she’d almost given up on there ever being any change on that perspective. If Maki wanted to stay stubborn and disliking children for reasons she could easily get over, that was her choice. “I’m glad that didn’t actually make me sick, though, I’d hate if I got home and had to pump instead of actually feed Aika because I was still throwing up.”</p><p>“Yeah, what a tragedy, she’d be broken if she couldn’t latch onto her mother one time in her life.” Dropping the last weight she needed into place, Maki came around the machine and stared Kaede down with a smile. “There, it’s ready for you. Go ahead and get working.”</p><p>The weight put into the machine was much greater than it had been previously, but not enough to make Kaede feel like she couldn’t do anything about it. Her legs ached as she pushed the machine back and forth, but seeing the smile on Maki’s face turn into an impressed look made her feel like it was worth it, and when she hit her twenty-five repetitions and the machine was pulled away, she felt like she could do at least a few more. “How much was that?” she asked, curious about what it was she’d just been working with. “Last time it was twenty, but that did not feel like twenty-five or even thirty.”</p><p>“Fifty.” The answer was short, sweet, and filled with Maki’s impressed tone that explained her expression. “It was fifty kilos.”</p><p>Stunned, Kaede managed to stammer, “…Excuse me? <em>Fifty</em>?”</p><p>“I don’t know why I chose to do it without telling you. My first thought was to have you press your goal weight, but then I thought that’d be cruel because I wouldn’t want to do that without warning, so why would you, so I just kind of settled on something easy to set up with the smaller weights. And you crushed it.” Maki pressed her hands together in front of her face, watching Kaede’s facial expression turn from stunned to accepting, proud of what she’d done. “Next time we do this I’m just putting in two twentys and a ten, and then building from there, since you need it. Those legs are going to be firm before any other part of you gets close.”</p><p>Resisting adding in a snarky comment about her chest at that moment, Kaede sat up and let her legs dangle over the edge of the bench, her feet brushing against the ground. “It isn’t what I’d hope for, but it’s progress,” she said confidently, Maki nodding at the truth of the statement. “Someday we’ll be able to get me to, like, two hundred sit-ups easy and then I’ll be making progress where I want it most.”</p><p>“This’ll help with that too, you know,” Tenko added, drumming fingers on her countable abs. “I mean, do you think I got looking like this just with sit-ups and all that? No way, there’s a lot of weight machines responsible for this body.”</p><p>“Right! Well, then, next time we can start at fifty on this and go from there.” Of all the machines that she was forced to use, that was one of the easier ones for her, so Kaede was not going to complain if that was what was going to give her the body she wanted back. “But I don’t have much time before I have to get home, so let’s go do something else to finish up, please? I want to make more progress while I can.”</p><p>“You’re really surprising me right now,” Maki remarked, even offering a hand to Kaede to help her to her feet. “Chugging that water must’ve flipped a switch in your head to make you get into working out, and I am not going to complain about having someone else to do this with that isn’t Tenko.”</p><p>They all shared a laugh at that, even though Tenko’s was a bit hurt by the statement, and off they went to other weight machines before finishing up doing a few minutes on the treadmill, which was Kaede’s least-favorite way of winding down but it was the one they went with that day. Once that had wrapped up, they were back to the padded room to grab their things and off they went on their separate ways, Kaede begging her body to hold on long enough to get her home before it started trying to express milk everywhere, knowing that she had a definitely hungry baby waiting for her when she got back.</p><p>The first thing she did when she got in the house was hunt down Shuichi, who she found in their bed reading to Aika, despite her being far too small to understand a word he was saying. He was able to know what was about to happen just based on a single look, and he handed her over as she was sitting down and pulling her shirt up, knowing that their own dinner was going to have to wait until Aika’s was done.</p><p>Such was the life of being parents, they knew.</p><p><em>two</em>.</p><p>Waking up the next morning after the workout, Kaede knew her body would be screaming at her for how far she’d pushed it, but she hadn’t expected to wake up with the same upset stomach she’d had while at the gym. It was slightly more persistent in its aching, and she considered getting out of bed to attempt throwing up, but the last thing she wanted was to concern Shuichi with anything. Besides, getting out of bed with how her legs were screaming in pain and her stomach muscles were in a state of constant contracting was not going to be easy on her own, and if she could lay down as long as possible she would’ve preferred that. Thankfully, she was married to someone who knew that the day after a workout would be a rough one, so he’d taken it upon himself to get Aika when she woke up and tend to her, as well as have most things Kaede would need within an arm’s reach of where she was laying.</p><p>But even after she’d done some pumping to relieve the pressure in her chest, her stomach still felt like it was in knots, and she ended up having to painfully get herself out of bed to make a dash for the bathroom before everything she’d eaten the previous night ended up outside of her body. It felt more difficult than usual to be crouched down at the toilet, thanks to the aching feeling she was experiencing everywhere, but she’d figured that what she was going through then was the ultimate ending to what she’d done to herself at the gym and it would end right then and there.</p><p>It was not the case, as the next few days she spent feeling sickly off and on, occasionally having to go throw up but doing it discreetly and making sure that Shuichi was unaware of how she was feeling. She didn’t want to panic him when she was certain she’d caused it to herself, but just in case she scheduled an appointment with her doctor to cover all her bases—fearing she’d damaged something internally when she’d been working out, or that she’d contracted something out of nowhere. Her biggest fear was that whatever bug she’d gotten was something she could pass to Aika, and the thought of seeing that little girl sick made her heart break in half.</p><p>By the time it was five days post-workout she was still throwing up on occasion and beginning to consider if there were any other possibilities besides having picked something up somewhere. Her mind kept fluttering to one rather large possibility, but she couldn’t bring herself to take it seriously for one specific reason: in the four months since Aika’s birth she’d had something remotely close to a cycle exactly one time, and that made that seem like an implausibility, not a possibility. Even still, she kept it in her mind when she had to take her daughter to her four-month appointment that day, the doctor there one that had been part of the team assisting with her birth. If there ever was a time to ask someone about how likely it could have been to be pregnant again, that would have been it, but Kaede was so certain that couldn’t be the case that she didn’t bring it up.</p><p>However, as she was walking her now-fussing baby out of the office after her shots and the conclusion of the exam, she picked up a pamphlet from the lobby on the topic (specifically about subsequent pregnancies after the first), and sat out in the parking lot reading through it, realizing that her excuse for why that couldn’t be the case wasn’t going to hold any water. Just the thought that it could be possible made her chest tighten, but she knew that if it was possible, it was something she had to look into, so a trip to the store was made on the way home, to grab some tests and some various other groceries to make the charge on the account less suspicious. To make sure that no judgments were made by any strangers around her, she took her groceries and the still-fussy Aika through the self-checkouts, but seeing each test ring up made her hope more and more that she was being overly cautious and that she was jumping to the worst possible conclusion.</p><p>She rushed home as fast as she could, trying to obey all traffic laws while still wasting no time in getting back, and once she and Aika were safely inside with their haul from the store she steeled herself for what was to come. This was so different from when she’d been in that position before, scared of what could happen but excited because she knew they wanted children. Now she knew what it was like to go through the whole ordeal, and was terrified to be facing down that reality again.</p><p>After spending some time getting Aika calmed down from her experience at the doctor, Kaede was able to put her into her crib for a nap and sneak out of the tiny bedroom and into the bedroom, picking up the bag that still held all of the pregnancy tests before taking them into the bathroom with her. She could feel herself breathing heavy, anticipating what she was fearful would come, as she opened and unwrapped half of what she bought and tucked the other half underneath the sink for safekeeping. Five minutes later, almost all of which were spent pacing back and forth running through all of the options she had for each possible outcome, they were ready to be checked and she had to convince herself everything would work out regardless of what they said before she picked one up and looked at it.</p><p>Her hand trembling as she held it in front of her face, seeing the lack of a line on it made her whole body feel like it was melting. But she’d not just taken one, and there were several others that needed to be checked to reinforce the negative result, or else she’d have quite the story to tell when she saw her own doctor the next day to discuss why she was sick. The nightmare scenario started to descend onto her as she checked the next one, which was also negative, only for every single other one to be showing a positive. Blood running cold through her veins as she checked and re-checked each of them to make sure she was reading them correctly, Kaede wasn’t sure how she was supposed to interpret anything right then but she knew one thing for certain: she was not saying a word of it to Shuichi until she had a straight answer to give him.</p><p>Thankfully enough for her, he wasn’t able to read through the situation based solely on her behavior, which she tried to make seem as least-panicked as possible once he got home. They made small talk, him finding it curious that he came home early but she had no intentions of going out for a workout, until she let it slip that she’d made her deal with Maki about how much extra she’d have to do the next time she went. “Okay, I’d definitely avoid going if I knew that was looming over me,” he said, making her feel justified in her lie, “but are you sure that’s all that’s going on? You’ve been a bit off lately.”</p><p>“Definitely sure that’s all,” she told him, hoping that he wouldn’t see right through her and press further. “Just have had a lot on my mind, and you know that I had to take Aika in today so that’s been eating at me too.”</p><p>“How did that go, by the way? She take it well?” He was holding her at the time, looking at the bandages that were still stuck to her chunky thighs, and when Kaede nodded he smiled. “I like to hear that; sorry I couldn’t be there with you for it. I’d asked if I could take a longer lunch but the case we were working required me to take a shorter one. I’ll get to go with you for one of her checkups someday, I’m sure.”</p><p>“They’re not that exciting, Shuichi, you don’t have to want to go to one of them, I promise.” If he had been able to go, she wouldn’t have gotten the chance to snag that pamphlet or make the purchases that she had, and she wouldn’t have been sitting there feeling like she had something she needed to tell him. “But who knows, maybe you’ll get to go to the next one, or the one after that.”</p><p>His smile faltered as he touched one of the bandages, watching Aika kick her leg out at the pressure. “It’d be nice to be more involved in her life, rather than just getting the weekends and nights, but if I was involved, where’d the money be coming from? We’re making a decent living as it is, but any changes like that would make it hard to continue on.”</p><p>“If you wanted to step into her life more, I’d get back into doing piano instruction, but I can’t really do that if I’ve got her with me all day.” Kaede wasn’t very happy about this turn of conversation, making her stomach start to churn in fear of what was to come, but she maintained a façade of happiness as she said, “Honestly, I miss teaching students how to play, it hasn’t been quite the same just playing for Aika all the time.”</p><p>“You could bring people into the house and have them practice here, if you miss it that badly. I can’t just quit working under the assumption that you’ll be able to find work, unfortunately.” Shuichi’s suggestion was a valid one, and it was something she’d thought about a time or two, but she wasn’t going to truly consider it if she didn’t have to. The thought of inviting strangers into her home with such a small child always made her uncomfortable to think about for too long. “This is just how it’s going to have to be for right now, until something changes.”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s all just wishful thinking,” she agreed, before realizing that if she was going to be going to her appointment the next day, she’d need someone to watch Aika for her, unless she wanted to be scolded for potentially making harmful choices. “Actually, Shuichi, can I ask a favor of you? I have to go to the doctor tomorrow and don’t want Aika going with.”</p><p>He looked stunned by the request. “Er, is everything okay? This is the first I’m hearing about this, you know.”</p><p>“It totally slipped my mind until now. Yes, everything’s fine, I’m just going for a follow-up of my own, kinda like Aika went to hers today. No big deal.” She wanted to talk about how it could very well be a big deal, but adding any further layers of suspicion to her behavior was not something she needed to be doing when her husband was a detective. “It’s in the afternoon, so you could drive to work tomorrow for a change, instead of getting a ride, then come back at lunch and stay here.”</p><p>“I don’t know if they’ll let me do that on such short notice, but I suppose I can figure out a way to make it work.” He paused, looking from Aika and her blank stare up to her mother, who was fidgeting where she sat. “Are you <em>sure</em> everything’s okay, Kaede? This isn’t any time to lie to me about something.”</p><p>He was figuring out that she was leaving out the truth, but she couldn’t give in and tell him what she thought was going on, not without solid proof in either direction. “Yes! I am absolutely sure everything’s okay, and if it’s not then you’ll hear about it tomorrow. That’s a promise from me to you, and I intend on keeping it.”</p><p>His eyes lingered on her for a few seconds, before he was back to looking at Aika, picking up her legs and playing with her socked feet, causing her to giggle her loud baby giggle. “I’m going to trust you on this, but please don’t let me down. If you’re dying, and you’re keeping it from me, I’m not going to get over that easily.”</p><p>“If I was dying, you’d be the first to know.” His guess was going in the wrong direction, but it seemed like a good clue that she wasn’t about to be caught if he wasn’t suspecting anything close to the truth. “I love you, Shuichi, and I really mean everything I say.”</p><p>“I love you too, Kaede. Please don’t keep secrets.”</p><p><em>three</em>.</p><p>In all honesty, the secret she was potentially keeping was not one that Kaede wanted to be bearing at that moment, nor was it one she’d expected to find herself contending with for quite a long time. They hadn’t ever discussed when they’d actually want a second child, even if it had been jokingly been brought up from time to time. He’d been an only child and she’d had a younger sister that, like the rest of her family, had grown distant when she’d thrown her pianist ambitions aside to get married to a detective, so it wasn’t like they had much to work with in terms of firsthand knowledge about siblings with an age gap. It had been fairly common knowledge that they did want Aika to have a younger brother or sister someday, but that was as far into the decision-making process as they had gotten.</p><p>Sitting in the waiting room that afternoon was one of the more worrisome times Kaede had ever spent at a doctor’s office, and she knew she had no one to blame but herself for it. She was wracking her brain for the answers to all of the questions she knew were going to get lobbed at her once she was in with her doctor; she could say, with certainty, when the first day of her last period had been, but it was far from regular and could very well mean nothing at all. Her only real, solid clue to her potentially being pregnant was the sickness and the feeling of not being all there, which she’d used the first time around, but it wasn’t something that could be used as proof, not after the mixed answers from the previous day’s tests.</p><p>When she was called back, she told herself that no matter what happened there in that office that day, she was going to carry herself and her life with pride and grace, because she was a strong, capable woman who could handle anything. True to her planning, once she’d set the stage for why she was visiting, her doctor asked her the magic question, and she had to answer that she wasn’t sure, followed by talking about the last cycle and how there’d only been the one in the months since she’d given birth.</p><p>“That was four months ago, correct?” the doctor asked, writing something down on the notepad she was holding, and when Kaede told her yes, she nodded and scribbled down a few more words. “Do you have any reason to believe it could or couldn’t be possible that you are pregnant right now?”</p><p>“I mean, I don’t, but…” All at once, time seemed to freeze in Kaede’s life and she was left sitting there thinking about her answer to that particular question. Was she merely thinking it was possible because she wanted to have two children close in age, or was she thinking it because that was her current greatest fear? How was she going to explain to Shuichi, or to anyone, if she found out that she was pregnant there in that office? There were so many variables, so many possibilities, so many things that could and would go wrong if given the chance, and she had to process them all right away. “I just want to know if I am, really.”</p><p>“Were any at-home tests administered?” continued the doctor, aware of the mental turmoil her patient was going through but unable to do anything beyond proceeding with the appointment. “Those would give you a rough idea of if you are or not.”</p><p>She grimaced, thinking about how much money she’d spent the day prior for that reason. “I did a few, to mixed results, which is why I bring it up now. This appointment was going to be for me feeling sick, until I really thought about why that could be.”</p><p>The doctor’s plan of attack was to do another test there at the office, and then verify it with a blood test, which Kaede understood the reason for but wanted nothing to do with. If the in-office test couldn’t be trusted, that meant she still had to wait several days to know the truth, which meant several more days of dancing around the subject with the man she shared a home with. But she felt the doctor knew best in the situation and so she went through with both, getting the blood drawn and giving the sample to be analyzed there in the office. While they waited for the first results, the doctor dove into other potential causes for the illness, some of which were psychological and some of which were more physical, citing changing post-partum hormones for other reasons as a large possible factor.</p><p>Those discussions came to a halt when the results came in, so that they could go through them together, and the doctor, her eyes shining with amusement, had one thing to ask: “You said you previously took tests and they came back with mixed results. When was this, exactly? Last week?”</p><p>“Yesterday, actually. Why do you ask?” Kaede knew that the expression the doctor was wearing was nothing but trouble, but she felt like making assumptions at that point was a dangerous thing to do. “It doesn’t look like I’m lying about that, does it?”</p><p>“It’s curious, that’s all. If you handed me this printout and told me that this patient had received a negative test in the past several weeks, I would have laughed you out of my office, except I know you wouldn’t be lying about something like that. This is why you take multiple, my dear, just as you did.” Handing the paper over, after circling some crucial parts of it, the doctor allowed Kaede to see exactly what it was that was amusing her. But what was amusing for one was not amusing for both, and just seeing in print that she was, without a doubt, growing something within her was easily more nerve-wracking than anything else would have been. “The blood test should do nothing but defend these results, but in case it does not or turns anything else up, I will get in touch with you. Do you have any other questions or concerns?”</p><p>The biggest question in her mind was if everything was going to end up okay, with her first child still being so young and this one existing at all, but she swallowed down that thought and said that she had nothing at all. That changed by the time she was leaving the building, all of the fears about what her future would hold beginning to envelop her and put a stranglehold on her throat. She knew that she could do this, theoretically, but all of the things that could go wrong could happen as well, and in a battle between fate and her decisions she would lose every single time.</p><p>There was something else looming overhead that had her gasping for breath against the raging sea of fears and emotions, that being letting Shuichi know what was going on. She knew that he’d find out that night, one way or another, and breaking the news to him the right way was absolutely a must, lest he not be supportive of the whole ordeal. But clumsy thinking and even clumsier hiding of evidence did her in, as when she got home with that test result in hand, Shuichi met her at the door was something of his own—or, rather, her own, that she’d carelessly forgotten to toss out.</p><p>“I’m going to suggest two different possibilities, both of which feel as unlikely as the other,” he said to her, crinkling the top of the receipt paper he was holding while trying not to look at what she had to offer. “Either these are for you, or they’re for someone you’re close to, such as Maki. Am I right on one of these options?”</p><p>Unlike him having the power to keep his eyes off her offering, she couldn’t bear to not look at the receipt and see the almost comically long list of duplicate items she’d purchased the day before. “Trying to drown all that out with other purchases doesn’t work if I let you find the receipt, huh?” she replied, pulling her eyes off the paper long enough to look into his unamused face. “You’re right on one option, yes, but you’re not going to like which one it’s ended up being.”</p><p>Dropping the receipt and letting it drift to the floor, Shuichi’s now-empty hand beckoned for what Kaede was holding in hers, and she reluctantly passed it over while trying to look around the room for where he might’ve left Aika to greet her as he had. “I’m just…how long did you know about this?” he asked her, causing her attention to snap back to their conversation. “I don’t even know when this could’ve happened…”</p><p>“Um, I’m going to take a wild guess and say it’s from your birthday, since it’s either that or there’s something very wrong happening here.” She couldn’t resist meekly smiling after pointing that out, but the exasperated, almost worried expression Shuichi gave her in return was unsettling at best. “But I started suspecting something was wrong last week, I didn’t think it was, well, this until yesterday.”</p><p>“And how, just how, did you start to consider this was even a possibility?”</p><p>“At Aika’s appointment, I might’ve grabbed something that explained the likelihood of it and I thought hey, maybe it’s possible that we got careless and…well, you know how it’s going to go from here.” It felt almost wrong to be talking about something this life-changing in such a casual manner, but she knew that he was running through all the problems this was about to bring into their lives and the last thing she wanted was to add more to his plate. “I’m not really sure what to do from here, though.”</p><p>His eyes glazing over the paper for what felt like the tenth time since he’d received it, Shuichi finally was able to pull himself away from it to look at Kaede with eyes wide and darting back and forth. “Acting like nothing’s going on isn’t an option, but I’m not looking forward to everyone else’s reactions when they find out. Can you imagine how they’re all going to take this? It’s going to be chaos!”</p><p>“You’re taking it better than I thought you would, so maybe everyone else will too.” It was beyond optimistic to think that way, and Kaede knew that they were going to be talking about how to proceed for the rest of the night. She already knew the basic topics they were going to hit on off the top of her head, but Shuichi was one to think through things deeper, so it was highly likely he’d have more. But continuing on their talks right then wasn’t something she wanted, not with her shaking legs from the fear of how it would go over and her aching chest from her need to feed the child they already had.</p><p>It wasn’t until she’d gotten Aika from her room that it sank it a bit more than sooner, rather than much later, was going to be when this girl was going to be a big sister, and the mere thought that a <em>baby</em> could be a big sister was enough to nearly knock her onto the floor. At least she was able to maintain her stance until she’d made it to the chair, but when Shuichi found her minutes later she was sobbing, stroking the back of Aika’s dark hair and occasionally mumbling something about how much of a failure of a mother she’d become. “I wouldn’t say you’re a failure by any means,” he assured her, taking a seat on the floor at her feet and looking up at them both. “I’d say quite the opposite, really. As unexpected as it is, the fact that you’re—damn it Kaede, you’re pregnant <em>again</em>, that’s got to count for something in terms of being a good mother.”</p><p>“It means I’m good at making them, but how am I going to raise two little ones at once? How are we going to do this, Shuichi?” Her sobs were body-shaking, but Aika wasn’t disturbed from her eating by them, so that was a single positive to be had. “I’m not sure I can do it, not without a lot of help.”</p><p>“I’ll support as much as I can, and I’m sure our friends will as well, but we’ve got time before we have to worry about how we’re going to do this.” His tone was soft and offering the support she felt she needed in the moment, and she appreciated that in her distraught state. “Did you discuss when you’re supposed to go back?”</p><p>She coughed out another sob before replying, “In a few weeks, to do a scan and all that stuff. I wasn’t thinking about telling anyone before then, except you of course, and I’d like it if you could come with me that day. We’ll have to arrange for someone to watch Aika, but for an occasion like that I think it would be worth it.”</p><p>“I’ll talk to Kaito about it, since he’s the only one I can think of that’d be willing to do it and not start suspecting anything. You focus on caring for yourself, Aika, and the new baby, and leave that to me.” Shuichi froze after he said that, his eyes casting downward for a moment before he followed up with, “That’s by far the strangest thing I’ve had to say in a long time, and I suppose it’s only going to get stranger from here, huh?”</p><p><em>four</em>.</p><p>True to his word, Shuichi was the one who took the task of finding a babysitter for a couple hours on an otherwise ordinary Thursday, and it was Kaito that he ultimately went with for the exact reason he’d initially come up with. The only part of the task that Kaede had to do herself was set up the appointment and have a time ready for when the favor was asked, but she felt she’d never really stopped having to make appointments at that particular office so she was okay with doing it.</p><p>The weeks between her initially finding out that she was most definitely pregnant again and when they could get their first glimpse of the baby felt like they dragged on incredibly long, but part of that was thanks to the amount of time they were back to spending together at the house. Even though she’d looked into it to see what kinds of workouts she could do without causing any harm to a growing child, Kaede felt that showing up to the gym to meet with Maki and Tenko and telling them both that she wasn’t going to do most of the extreme stuff would out her secret immediately. Since she knew at least one of them was not going to take things well, it felt better to insist the absence was due to Shuichi pulling a lot of late nights at the office, because that was at least a plausible excuse that could’ve been happening.</p><p>It would have been, honestly, if he’d had anything to keep him working late, but the cases were slim at the time and he could barely fit them to his current hours, let alone extra ones. “I’ll find a way to get some more work in, since we’ll be needing that money in the future,” he promised, speaking with an assuring tone to calm Kaede’s frantic heart, as she knew very well that if things didn’t fall in their favor, they could easily be in a lot of trouble.</p><p>When the day of the appointment came, they had to take Aika over to Kaito and Maki’s place, since Kaito didn’t want to be watching a child somewhere that wasn’t his own home, just in case something went wrong. Him implying anything could or would go wrong was terrifying to Kaede, who wasn’t fully convinced that Kaito was going to be able to watch Aika in the first place, but Shuichi was able to make sure that she knew that he was just being overly careful and that he wasn’t expecting anything to happen. But it was an unpleasant first sign when they got to their apartment and it was Maki who answered the door, giving them both a bit of a disgusted look.</p><p>“I can’t believe you roped Kaito into watching her here,” she said, not allowing for Shuichi to explain exactly what he’d already explained to Kaede on the way over. “I wish I had anywhere else to be right now except here.” That was when she took a glance at Kaede, giving her a similar once-over to the one she’d given her that night at the gym. “You’re not working out while you’re sitting playing mommy, are you?”</p><p>Not having realized that her physical state had changed any in the weeks since she’d last gone for a workout, Kaede shrugged. “Here and there I’ve been doing it, but you try getting your hands free long enough to do anything when you’ve got an infant around who needs constant care.”</p><p>“And that’s another point for never having children,” Maki muttered, before turning her head behind the door to holler for Kaito, looking back at the couple out in the hallway while they all waited. “So, what’s the occasion for today, anyway? Hot date? Need some time away from the kid?”</p><p>An excuse to cover them on where they were going was something that neither of them had come up with, but thinking fast on his feet Shuichi replied, “I’m having a get-together this afternoon at work and it’s no children allowed. Nothing too important or long, so we’ll be back within a couple hours.”</p><p>“Don’t you worry, I’ve got this all under control!” Kaito bellowed, jumping into sight behind his short wife and leaning over her to look out at his friends and their child. “I’ve never done too much babysitting before, but with Maki Roll here to help me if I need it, this’ll be a breeze among breezes! Aika’s going to be fine with me!”</p><p>“If she gets hungry, she’s got some bottles in the bag, but don’t let her eat all of them at once, they need to be rationed so that she doesn’t get sick.” Pressing a finger to her chin as she handed off the bag she’d been holding on her shoulder, which Maki took and walked away with, Kaede looked at Kaito and his goofy grin and felt like she was making a big mistake in trusting him with her child. “Are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this? We can just not go to the get-together if you’re not certain.”</p><p>“I’m one thousand percent positive I can handle a baby for a few hours, Kaede. I’m not completely incapable with everything.” He flashed her a grin, and she gave a shaky laugh in response, still not trusting him fully but knowing she wasn’t going to get anyone else to cover for them while they went to the appointment. “Now hand ‘er over, I’m ready for this fun time to start!”</p><p>After allowing for Kaede to bend down and kiss Aika’s cheek gently, Shuichi handed her in her seat over to Kaito’s waiting hands. “Make sure she doesn’t stay in that the whole time you’ve got her, let her out and laying on a blanket on the floor. She prefers being set down on her back, but do please put her on her stomach for at least a little while.”</p><p>“Thanks for the tip, sidekick! Your baby’s going to be fine with me, don’t worry!” Kaito’s grin grew larger before he kicked the door closed, leaving the two out in the hallway without any guarantee that his word was true.</p><p>There wasn’t any good that would be done if they stood around trying to listen in to what could have been happening on the other side, not when they had somewhere important to go. Every few steps they took down back to where they’d parked, Kaede would look over her shoulder and consider running back to check, but Shuichi kept her grounded and focused on what they needed to do right then, and soon enough they were on their way. It felt almost like they were retracing steps from the past as they drove to the office, and entering the front doors it was like they’d been there quite recently (even though they had been, all things kept in mind). The receptionist recognized them from before and welcomed them with a warm greeting, but that only made the fact that they were there way sooner than they’d expected they’d ever be more obvious.</p><p>The time they spent sitting there waiting to get called back was nerve-wracking, with Kaede bouncing her leg and thinking nonstop about what could have been going wrong with Aika at that moment. She started drumming her fingers against her leg, slowly turning the anxious habit into playing the notes for the lullaby she’d written, but after pretending to play through it a couple times she froze her hand mid-note. “I have to write another song,” she whispered to Shuichi, who looked at her in confusion until she elaborated, “I can’t write one for one kid but not do it for the other.”</p><p>“I don’t know where you’re going to find the time for that,” he replied, scratching under the back of the hat he was wearing to mask the fact that he’d forgotten to actually wash his hair recently. “It’s already rough finding time of your own, and you’re not exactly going to find more of it any time soon.”</p><p>“Thanks for reminding me of that.” It had already been so difficult to get the time to go to the gym when she’d been doing that, so even though playing the piano was something she would be doing at home, she would’ve been contending with a noise level that could have been too much for the baby in the house. “I hope this one can forgive me if their song isn’t any different than Aika’s.”</p><p>His reaction was to give the conversation some thought, before shaking his head. “We’ll think of some way to make that not happen, they deserve their own lullaby just like her.”</p><p>“It’s worked wonders so far, so maybe that’ll be the case with the second one. I like having a child who appreciates my piano music, so let’s go two-for-two, huh?” She laughed, before her hand slowly drifted from her leg to her stomach, another old habit that she’d had but one that had been rather situational. “I still can’t believe we’re going through this again, I still have dreams about the whole thing last time and now I’ll be living it.”</p><p>“That’s how it goes,” he said, leaning his head onto her shoulder, “but we’re going to make the best of everything. We’re going to love Aika and this second one the same, no matter how they end up compared to her.”</p><p>The receptionist called out for them to come to the door not long after that, and together they stood and headed for the fateful meeting that was going to change the fabric of their lives forever. This doctor was another one that had been prominent in their lives over the past year, and she greeted Kaede and Shuichi both by name and with eager handshakes, leading them back into her office. “You should remember the drill here, yes?” she asked, closing the door on the three of them in the room. “I’ll get machines rolling, you strip down and get on the table.”</p><p>By the time the doctor was back with her wand in hand, Shuichi was sitting in the chair next to the table with Kaede’s things in his lap and his fingers laced in hers, while Kaede was laying on the table with her other hand pushing her bangs back from her face. “I’m not looking forward to any surprises here, so please don’t give me any,” she begged, trying to make eye contact with the doctor, who merely laughed at the statement. “Seriously, if you’re going to tell me anything other than there being one baby, I am not interested.”</p><p>“I’ll tell you exactly what the doppler picks up, whether it’s one or more.” Waving the wand around, the doctor pointed it directly towards Kaede’s face before getting her ready for it to be used. The gel was just as uncomfortable as she’d remembered it being, but she was too worried about something being shown that wasn’t what she was expecting that she couldn’t be bothered caring about it. The doctor hummed as she began rolling the wand back and forth across the now-gelled skin, searching for some sign of life on the grayscale screen.</p><p>The first clue that they were close was the sound of the rapid-fire heartbeat being picked up, which had the clasped hands gripping each other a bit tighter, followed by the sight of something small and blob-like coming up on the screen. “There it is,” Kaede said, feeling breathless at the sight flickering with each beat that pulsed. “I can’t believe it.”</p><p>“And only one, unless there’s something hiding elsewhere, but I’m not going to hold my breath about it. Congratulations, Saihara family, because your lives are officially changing forever. Again.” The doctor pressed some buttons to print out the sonograms for their keeping, before letting the image linger on the screen for a while longer. “Based on the information that got sent over here from the other office, and based on what I’m seeing, I’m estimating…late May as the due date, but don’t quote me on that right now, we’ll need to measure when they’re a bit bigger.”</p><p>At that, the couple shared a look between them, both with narrowing eyes as they tried to process what they’d just heard. “Er, I don’t mean to question your process at all,” Shuichi started, catching an amused look from the doctor, “but Aika’s birthday is in late May, so are you saying there’s a chance that they could end up—”</p><p>“My babies are going to be exactly a year apart?” Kaede blurted out, sitting up slightly and causing the machine to lose focus on the flickering image. “How did we <em>manage</em> that?”</p><p>“—that was what I was going to ask about, but it seems she’s said it for me.”</p><p>Laughing, the doctor began to shut down the machine now that she’d lost her reading on it. “I never said they would be, I even specifically said ‘don’t quote me on that’, now didn’t I? We’ll get a better idea of how close to a year apart they’ll be next time we do a scan, but right now we’re going to shoot for the end of the month. Hard to tell when we don’t have a good set of data working for us.”</p><p>“Then we’ll not tell people that they’ll be that close then, understood.” Giving a quick nod in her direction, Shuichi looked over at Kaede to see her still-shocked, mouth-slightly-ajar expression. “Please, Kaede, don’t say a thing about that until we know for sure, let’s let that come as a later part to the surprise.”</p><p>“I’m fine with just telling them May, sure,” she replied, laying back down so that the excitement of the moment didn’t make her start to get dizzy, as she waited for the remaining gel to be wiped off her body. “It’s not going to hurt anyone if they don’t get the full story right away, especially not…some of our friends.”</p><p>He let his eyes linger on her for a moment, watching as she closed her mouth and began to look pensive in regards to something. “Let me guess, you’re talking about Maki and Tenko, aren’t you?”</p><p>“They’re going to be so upset when they find out, because they’d really wanted me to be working out and when they find out why I haven’t been, it’s going to be war.” Cue the doctor trying to give input about safe workouts that one could do while pregnant, but it wasn’t anything Kaede wanted to hear, or explain the reason for why it didn’t matter if there was something she <em>could</em> do. “This is all so exciting and scary and all that, but possibly losing their friendship isn’t what I wanted whenever we decided to have a second kid.”</p><p>“You’re overthinking it,” Shuichi told her, beginning to take on a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach at how he could very well have been lying to her right then, given who in particular they were talking about. The last thing he wanted was for any of their friends to cause added stress in their lives right then, but when dealing with those two nothing was ever guaranteed to be easy. “Come on, let’s not worry about that right now and instead think about how we’re going to break this news to them. You had fun with that last time, didn’t you? Aren’t you looking forward to doing it again?”</p><p>She didn’t respond until she had the copies of the sonograms in her hands, looking at them as if she was looking down on a tangible baby, not just pictures of a grayscale blip against a dark background. “I guess half the fun of being pregnant last time was getting to tell everyone all about it, so maybe that’ll be where I have my fun this time too.”</p><p>“Don’t get too wrapped up in having fun with that that you forget to come back and visit us here,” the doctor reminded them, showing why they trusted her with this medical care the second time around. “Set up your next appointment before you leave, take that stress off your shoulders and…make sure you take it easy. Don’t need you causing yourself any harm with everything you’ve got on your plate this time around.”</p><p>They thanked her, Kaede even giving her a big hug once she was back to being fully dressed and ready to go, and headed out back into the lobby arm-in-arm. The next appointment was scheduled for a few weeks out, for the main purpose of making sure everything was still going well and to get a better grasp on the due date, and knowing that they’d have the information to drop the second potential bombshell on their friends at that time, they left to start discussing what they were going to do in order to drop the first one.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I have been waiting for a long time to be able to start posting this! I'm so excited to get to share this labor of my love with you, it's been two years since I first posted Ultimate Love Song and now going back into that universe is like slipping into a favorite sock.</p><p>I promise there will be art for this fic too, just not right away! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>five</em>.</p><p>Two days later, standing in the middle of the local craft store with her head in her hands, Aika screaming from her seat in the shopping cart, and Shuichi on speakerphone getting an earful of the wails, Kaede felt like she was about to lose her mind and her grasp on everything in life. “I don’t remember what shade of <em>paint</em> we used last time,” she groaned, her head starting to ache from the sound of the shrill screeching happening right near her. “I just want to get home and get started working on this, but I can’t remember what it was!”</p><p>“I don’t think you painted the letters before you hung them,” he replied, trying his best to be helpful despite being stuck at work on a rare weekend in the office. “But if you insist on painting them, then they’re going to have to be white. That’s what color they were in all the pictures of Aika’s board before her letters were painted.”</p><p>“They…were white, weren’t they?” Groaning again, Kaede pulled her hands off of her head and pushed the cart out of the paint aisle, going back to where she’d initially grabbed the wooden letters for the board. Her eyes scanning the shelves, she saw where the white wood ones would have been, but with slim choices on the letters available she resigned herself to having to do that extra work herself and went back to the paint, finding quiet time as long as the cart was moving as Aika calmed down when she felt the motion. “I’m so sorry you’re having to hear this right now, Shuichi, but I’d have given up and gone home with empty hands if I didn’t have you here listening to me fail at getting this done.”</p><p>He chuckled, barely audible over the sound of Aika’s crying beginning to pick back up. “You’re not failing at anything, you’re just having a harder time than you did last year doing it, that’s all. Don’t worry about getting it together when you get home, I’ll take care of it as soon as I get back. It sounds a lot like you’ve got something much more important to handle in the meantime.” She’d wanted to reply to him, but she heard the call disconnect, leaving her with the inconsolable infant and the cart of crafting supplies to get home with safely.</p><p>Once she’d grabbed the first white paint that came in a small enough can to justify purchasing it, she took her items up to the register, earning dirty looks from some of the other customers but nothing but sympathetic gestures from the worker manning the counter. Some small talk was made, mostly about Aika and how old she was, but because of that when the person asked what the crafts were for, she thought quickly on her feet and came up with a lie about how she was making the board for a friend, but then the extra letters were for herself at her own home. It felt almost dirty to not admit to the truth, but Kaede was already feeling the judgment of having a whining child from so many others, she didn’t want this cashier to decide she was a dirty, unable to keep her legs closed kind of woman. Although, she hated to admit it, but it seemed like it was somewhat true just based on the current trajectory of her life.</p><p>She paid for her purchases and got everything out to the car, feeling bad that she’d used it that day when Shuichi could’ve made better use of it because he needed to be at work. Their lives would’ve been so much easier if they each had a vehicle of their own, but that was more money than it was worth, especially since he was content with getting rides and using public transport to get to work and she needed to be able to drive Aika anywhere at any given moment. But when she was buckling in the car seat behind the passenger’s seat, she had the realization that with a second carrier in there, room was going to be very tight, and it might’ve been in their best interest not to get a second vehicle, but to upgrade the one they already had.</p><p>“I never thought I’d be the kind of person who’d be hoping she could get something roomier, like a…van or something,” she said to herself, before letting loose a single laugh. “How crazy things get when you start having kids, I guess!”</p><p>She drove home with only needing to stop to collect herself once, a feeling of sickness overtaking her about halfway back to the house and her having to pull over until it passed, and once she was back safe and sound in the house she set out all of the crafting supplies where they could not be missed, and took Aika into the bedroom with her. The last few steps before she got to the bed, her head was starting to spin more than she’d ever experienced, and she was terrified she was going to lose her balance or her grip on the baby until she was safely laying down. “And here’s the downside to having children,” she lamented, putting Aika on the blankets next to her as she closed her eyes and tried her hardest to keep herself from throwing up.</p><p>No matter if the girl was crying or not, she couldn’t bear to crack an eye open to check on her to make sure she was fine, and because she hadn’t brought her phone into the bedroom with her she couldn’t fumble her way into calling Shuichi to tell him to get home as soon as he could. Somewhere in all of it she dozed off, waking up to the feeling of something warm pressing up against her side, only to find Aika having fallen asleep next to her, a puddle of sweat beginning to form between them. “Someday I’ll miss having times like this, I guess,” she told herself, stroking the girl’s wet hair with two fingers. “I wish we’d be able to have more of them without something else getting in the way.”</p><p>She wasn’t going to be moving without disturbing the impromptu nap, which she was fine with given that she did enjoy getting those small moments with her baby, but her thoughts began to overtake her as she continued to lay there. All of the pictures of her with Aika growing up over her first year were going to be remembered for a reason that wasn’t a baby hitting her milestones, and that felt like it was going to become some point of contention in the future. Was she going to be considered a horrible mother by her own children when they were older and understood how close in age they were? Was Aika going to resent her for giving her a sibling whose birthday was close to a year after hers? It was hard to picture that tiny little girl feeling anything but love for her, but the possibility seemed to be there.</p><p>The moment was broken when Shuichi came home a while later, coming into the room looking frazzled until he saw Kaede and Aika in the bed. “You haven’t been answering your phone so I was expecting to come home to something horribly wrong,” he admitted, wiping his brow when he saw things were fine. “I wanted to let you know that I was bringing food with me, but then you didn’t answer so I didn’t get anything, sorry about that.”</p><p>“It’s fine, it’s totally my fault for leaving my phone out in the living room instead of having it in here with me.” Knowing that the naptime had gone on a bit too long and that Aika was definitely going to be up until the late hours of the night at that point, Kaede decided to bite the bullet and gently shake her awake, causing the eruption of wails and screams to descend upon their bedroom. “If you want, you can go back out and get yourself something, but I don’t think I’m super hungry tonight.”</p><p>“You haven’t eaten anything today, have you?” he asked her, to which she couldn’t answer truthfully unless she wanted to worry him, so she shrugged it off and instead climbed out of bed, feeling a small rush of dizziness before pushing past it to get Aika into her arms. He wasn’t fooled, though, which was to be expected. “Kaede, you’re not starving yourself on my watch. You’re eating something tonight whether you want to or not, it’s what you and the baby need. I’m not budging on this.”</p><p>Knowing that he was serious on the matter, Kaede tried to come up with some excuse for why she couldn’t eat, at least at the moment, and her eyes landed down on Aika’s face, which was reddened with her crying. “I’ll eat after I feed her, but I’m not picking what it is, that one’s on you.”</p><p>“Then I’ll go get us something, and since I’m doing it from here, I can drive myself.” He came toward her, just long enough to see a tiny lapse of focus appear in her face, and his feet froze mid-step. “What was that about just now? Everything okay?”</p><p>“Just feeling a bit dizzy, that’s all,” she replied, speaking completely honestly as she decided standing wasn’t worth it and sat back down, pushing her back against the pillows at the head of the bed. “Probably from not eating, now that I think about it.”</p><p>Giving her name a worried mutter, Shuichi decided there was no time to stand around and keep talking when she clearly needed to eat, and he was soon gone, leaving her to feed Aika as she’d said she would. It was another one of those moments that she felt was going to prematurely stripped from them because of everything else going on, but she was determined to feed her child exactly how she wanted to for as long as she possibly could (and learning how long that would be would come in the future, along with everything else about this second run-through of being pregnant). Some of her hair fell over her shoulder and right into Aika’s grasp, and for the duration of the feeding there were small tugs of a rather content child on the long, wavy strands, which were just enough to keep Kaede focused on what was happening in front of her.</p><p>When he got home with their food, an order of fresh salads and desserts from a market down the street, he did have to beg for her to leave the bed to come eat, something that she only did because she didn’t want to have to clean up any potential spills. “Can you put Aika down on the floor while we eat?” she asked, not wanting to have to be holding the girl during the meal. “I know that she’s still going to want more when we’re done, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to keep going if I don’t eat right now.”</p><p>“And you were trying to tell me you were fine without food,” he replied, taking Aika out of her arms and carrying her out towards the dining room, Kaede slowly following him once she collected herself and managed to get back to her feet without stumbling. The walk out to the table seemed so long, but getting to the table and finding her food waiting for her made it worth it, and no matter how much Aika whined while laying on her back on the floor, kicking her legs now and again, she was not going to be tended to again until that entire meal had been demolished.</p><p>It was hard to focus on eating when there was someone so small to watch instead, but Kaede pushed herself to not get distracted by whatever it was Aika was doing at any given time, just long enough to be able to eat her dinner. But the second she felt she couldn’t eat any longer, she got out of her chair and went to pick up the girl to resume feeding her. “I assume you’re fine with me doing this while you put the board together,” she said, sitting on the floor because she didn’t feel like going anywhere else, while Shuichi smiled down at her from where he was still seated at the table. “Especially if we’re going to be, you know, using that board tonight.”</p><p>“I’d figured it was going to be me doing it, but I was thinking you could play some music while I worked. That way, when it’s finished and you’ve written what you need to on it, Aika’ll be calm enough to get in on the picture with you.” They were clearly on the same wavelength as to what needed to be accomplished that night, and after she’d gotten to the point where she could not feed Aika any longer, she set her back down just long enough to get to her feet, then had her back in her arms as she carried her over to the piano bench.</p><p>By that time Shuichi had pulled out everything that had been bought for the board and was piecing it together, having grabbed Aika’s own board from her bedroom to compare his work to the new one. “Make sure that the letters aren’t so close to each other that painting them in the future will be difficult,” Kaede told him, as she positioned herself with Aika on her lap so that she could begin playing the lullaby she routinely started her play sessions with. “Whoever does that for us this time, whether it’s us again or a friend, will appreciate it later.”</p><p>“Noted, even though that’s a bridge we can cross in a while.” He cracked a smile as he set out paper to protect the floor from the paint he was having to use on the letters, carefully painting them one by one before attaching them to the outside of the board. It was rather strange, Kaede thought, watching him do the crafting work while she sat to the side, but she knew why she wasn’t the one getting hands-on with things.</p><p>Without thinking about what she was doing, her fingers switched which song she was playing, going from the lullaby to one of the classical songs she’d grown up playing. The change wasn’t abrupt by any means, but it was enough for Aika to start squirming around for a moment, only to fall back into her calm state of relaxing in her mother’s lap. Her change in music was also noticed by Shuichi, who’d looked over at her when he’d heard it, shook his head with a laugh, and went right back to attaching white letters to their frame. When he finished, he stood up and came to Kaede’s side, reaching under her arms to grab Aika for himself. “Are you done?” she asked, having gotten too wrapped up in her playing to realize anything had been going on around her. “Does this mean it’s time?”</p><p>“It’s only time if you want it to be.” Bouncing Aika as he adjusted how he was holding her, he turned to leave the room. “I’d think you’d want to wear something nicer than what you’ve got on right now, that doesn’t seem like anything you want important pictures existing of.”</p><p>Kaede looked down at her shirt, which was admittedly stained with a lot of different liquids and colors that she didn’t dare think too much about, and groaned. “You’re totally right, but what should I wear instead?” Her mind was beginning to race with all the possibilities, whether she went digging through all of the maternity clothes she’d stashed in her closet or if she should go for something more casual, and she found no relief or answer in her husband as he took their daughter to get changed into something else as well. “Thanks so much for that, Shuichi, you’re so great when you don’t actually help me at all.”</p><p>There was no answer, predictably so, but she did get to go into their bedroom without anyone there to watch her change, although that was not exactly the victory it would have been otherwise. Without any idea of what she needed to wear to make the moment count as much as it felt like it should, she found herself standing in the closet just staring at the sheer amount of clothing she had, a lot of it that she’d only worn once. After what felt like a short eternity she heard Shuichi calling her name from the living room, and so she closed her eyes, grabbed the first shirt she touched, and left the closet holding it.</p><p>That was how she ended up in the picture wearing a shirt that said <em>mama bear</em> with a paw print on the side of the stomach, holding Aika (wearing what looked to be a brand-new onesie covered in tiny flowers) on her other side as to not cover up anything important. Next to them was the original sign they’d made the year before, facts about Aika’s current age milestones on prominent display. Propped up against the wall underneath it was the new board, making the announcement that the time it was going to just be a family of three in that house was quickly dwindling, giving the estimated date of May for everyone to read. By no means was it a perfect picture, but it was one that would get the job done and get it done quickly, leaving nothing to be questioned.</p><p>Like before, it was posted to social media without any warning to go along with it, and they set aside their phones after the deed had been done, awaiting the reactions from everyone who would see it. While they waited, the boards were switched around, the one belonging to Aika going back into her room and the new baby’s board getting hung in its place, finding a new home there on the wall. “I know that I’ve known about this for weeks now, but I’m still a bit shocked every time I think about how this is really happening,” Kaede remarked, reading over what she’d written about their new addition again. “It’s like…we’re really doing this, and nothing’s going to stop us.”</p><p>“That’s one way to look at it, for sure.” Also reading over the board, Shuichi scratched at the back of his neck as he added, “It’s definitely not going to be a well-received life update, not by everyone we know, but those who matter will understand and accept it.”</p><p>Nodding, Kaede followed up with, “Unless they’re Maki.”</p><p>“Why would you say that?”</p><p>She turned to look at him, a playful glint in her eye, as she pushed Aika towards him. “Because I can hear my phone ringing, and I know that’s the ringtone I set for her. If I answer that, I’ll get an earful, and if I don’t the same’ll happen anyway, so why not just get it over with now?”</p><p>“Or you can let her be angry right now and not ruin the night.” Refusing to take Aika into his own hands, Shuichi explained his reasoning immediately. “We just made the announcement; she’s acting irrationally based on her first impression. She’ll get over it if you wait until morning.”</p><p><em>six</em>.</p><p>In fact, Maki did not get over it by waiting until morning, and she was even more bitter about things when Kaede finally got around to discussing them with her. “So what else have you been lying to us all about?” she snappishly asked the moment she picked up the phone when Kaede called her to talk about it. “Because I doubt there’s been a word of truth coming from you lately.”</p><p>“I only lied about a few things, you have to understand, we didn’t want things getting out until we were ready for them.” Taking in a sharp breath, Kaede steeled herself for the earful she knew she was about to get. “The lies were mostly about why we needed Kaito to watch Aika those times, and why I stopped showing up to the workouts. That’s really it.”</p><p>“He did that for you thinking you had important things going on, and you both chose to lie to him about it. What kind of friends are you?” The anger in Maki’s voice was so prevalent that it was hard to listen to her, but Kaede knew backing down over the phone was not going to be an option. “No, don’t even answer that one, because you’ll make excuses for why you did it. I was even starting to regret ribbing on your appearance every time I’ve seen you lately, but now that I know why you’re—”</p><p>“Maki, will you shut up and stop being so stupid about this?” Her patience had grown thin quickly in regards to the whole situation, and Kaede was not about to let her friend walk all over her and demean her for something she hadn’t intended on happening. “I’m not going to listen to you if you’re going to just call me names and make fun of how I look. If this is how you want our friendship to end, I’ll end it right here.”</p><p>She could hear some gasping on the other side, followed by the line going silent, and when she’d realized she’d been hung up on for standing her ground, Kaede burst into tears she couldn’t even fathom controlling. She caught her reflection in the screen of the phone, her eyes shining with her tears as they rolled down her cheeks, and the sight of herself looking so pitiful only made her feel worse. “Let me guess, you called Maki and she’s still not taking it well,” Shuichi guessed when he saw her sitting on the edge of their bed, absentmindedly running her fingers through her hair as she tried collecting herself. “I’ll call Kaito and see if he can talk any sense into her.”</p><p>“It’s not going to work,” she replied, “because I really did screw this one up. I did lie to her, or have you lie to Kaito, to cover what was really happening, and now she knows the truth and she thinks I’m some self-centered liar who only lies to get by.”</p><p>“We know a self-centered liar who lies to get by, and if she thinks you doing this is as bad as anything he’s ever done, then I don’t think repairing this friendship will be worth it.” He tried to get her to smile but couldn’t get her to break out of her sorrow, and he sighed. “I’m still going to try, though. You just focus on not beating yourself up so much over this, because this is Maki’s problem, not yours.”</p><p>There were so many words she wanted to say right then about how she disagreed with that statement and his approach to solving it, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything further on the matter to him. Instead, after he’d walked out of the room promising her that he’d do something to fix things, her hand dropped from her hair and the back of it brushed against her stomach, which was hidden quite well by the baggy shirt she was wearing at the moment. “I can’t believe she thinks it’s okay to know what’s going on and still try to insult me,” she said to herself, running her hand across her stomach to try and remind herself why she was so upset in the first place. “I don’t think she’d like it if I did something like that to her.”</p><p>Her next words came after realizing how improbable that situation was, given Maki’s stance on children in general, and she found herself on the verge of tears yet again. She fell back onto the bed, the bagginess of the shirt fading into the blankets underneath her as it now clung to her skin tighter, showing that there was something there to be seen (even though it was mostly remnant weight from the previous time, which made her long for when she’d be showing a bump with this new child). “I’d never do anything like that to anyone, not knowing what it’s like to be in these shoes. She’ll understand someday that what she did was wrong, or she won’t be my friend anymore.”</p><p>When Shuichi came back into the room he found Kaede laying there, muttering to herself about her friendship with Maki and how it wasn’t worth her time if things weren’t ever going to get better. “Kaito said he’d have a chat with her about things,” he announced, before hurriedly adding, “and that’d they’d be by in a bit to sort things out in person.”</p><p>“What?” she asked, completely shocked at the turn of events. “In person? Which means I have to try to look my best, unless I want Maki to insult me again because she thinks I was slacking off on working out. Thanks, Shuichi, this is exactly what I wanted.”</p><p>“Not my idea, you can thank Kaito for it when you see him.” Soon Shuichi was standing right in front of her legs, leaning over her with offered arms to get her back sitting up, which she refused for one reason she was quite adamant about: as long as she was fully capable of getting back up, she was going to do it herself. “Right, right, sorry about that,” he apologized, backing away to watch her get up without assistance. “I guess I’m jumping the gun by a few months on that one.”</p><p>“Don’t remind me that that’s going to be my reality again really soon,” she laughed, shaking off any further reservations and hard feelings she had about the surprise meeting she was about to be thrust into. “I’m going to pick the cutest thing I own and wear it, so that I feel better about myself when Maki’s here tearing into me. Sound like a plan?”</p><p>“She’s not going to…oh, whatever, make yourself look cute, you know I won’t complain.” He winked in her direction as she climbed off of the bed, heading straight for the closet she spent too much time digging through on a regular basis. “Don’t forget that before they come over, we’ve got to wash all of Aika’s clothes, she’s down to a couple onesies and a few things too big for her or too warm for the weather we’re having.”</p><p>Scrunching her nose at the idea of needing to do laundry on an already stressful day, Kaede chose not to reply to the reminder, even though she knew Shuichi was aware she’d heard what he’d said. Her mind was focused on putting together something cute to wear, and hopefully not settling on something that wasn’t going to properly fit her, since most of her cute clothes were either from before she’d ever been pregnant, or from when she’d needed to get dressed up in the later months of her first pregnancy. What she ended up settling on was a dress that had found itself wedged in the back of the closet, still with tags on it, and upon inspection she’d noticed she’d had to have bought it about a year before, probably under the impression she’d need to be dressing up a tiny bump of a belly at some point.</p><p>It definitely was not the scenario she’d ever have suspected to wear something so cute and flowing, but it fit her nearly perfectly, the one flaw being that it was a tad tight on her swollen chest, but it was rare that anything fit there anyway. “I think I’ll need to take a raincheck on helping with laundry right now,” she told Shuichi when she found him already in Aika’s room, sorting the pile of dirty clothes by color. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to burst if I don’t feed her sometime soon.”</p><p>“Somehow I knew you’d find a way to get out of helping me with this,” he replied, not sounding too bothered with her announcement. “I’d already suspected you’d need to feed her, and since I knew you didn’t wake up when she was screaming this morning, it was a no-brainer that you’d need to be the one doing it this time.”</p><p>“H-hey, I was up before she was this morning, where else do you think that milk came from?” One of the worst parts about having a nearly five-month-old in the house was the almost constant need to be either feeding or pumping milk, and in the weeks since she’d learned she was pregnant again it only felt like the supply had gotten more extreme. “I can’t help it that I fell back asleep, hard, before she was screaming to get fed.”</p><p>“I suppose I should let you sleep as deeply as you want, as often as you can,” he conceded, picking up a pile of colored clothing. “The days of that happening are already few and far between, and it’s only going to get worse as the months go on.”</p><p>She shuddered, dodging him with his full arms as she approached Aika’s crib, the girl laying on the bare mattress with her eyes staring straight up; when she saw her mother’s face appear she erupted into a toothless smile that warmed Kaede’s heart instantly. “Come here you, I know how much you want to eat all the time,” she said, reaching down into the crib to pick her up and taking her over to the chair to get started with the feeding. The first problem that arose was that, in order to comfortably find a way for Aika to latch, she had to completely undo the top of the dress and let it hang down, and the second was that Shuichi came back in almost right after that decision had been made, being caught off-guard by the sight of half of his wife’s bare chest there in their child’s room.</p><p>She caught him trying to avert his eyes and had to resist laughing as she pulled as much of her dress up to cover herself as she could, not having a blanket anywhere nearby to do the work for her. “I probably should’ve warned you that I couldn’t do it discreetly wearing this,” she said, watching him nod in understanding before grabbing the first semi-large piece of fabric he could find to offer. After taking it and covering all of herself that was unnecessarily exposed, Kaede gave him a silent thanks, while he looked at the rest of the laundry sitting on the floor.</p><p>“What I find strange about that is you having everything else out, I hope you know,” he explained, wanting to cover his bases on the matter. “Natural process and all that, definitely get it, but you’ve never been the kind of woman to sit around exposing yourself to the world, so it’s still hard to get used to.”</p><p>“Well, usually when I do it I’m wearing something I can keep on the other side, so I totally get you not expecting to see that much when you walked into the room. I’m not offended that you made me cover up, I was clearly trying to do it anyway.” The one thing that would have offended her would’ve been if he’d asked her to cover herself entirely, but neither of them were exceptionally bothered by the aspect of a child’s head doing the covering, especially not when they were in their own home, and that did include when other people were over, but that was a rare enough occurrence that it never exactly came up.</p><p>That day wasn’t going to end up being an exception to that rule, she hoped, because even though she knew the others were coming over she wanted them in and out fast, so that she could get back to her life without worrying about dealing with their presence. She knew it was going to be a disaster without knowing what all was meant to happen (aside from Maki talking to her and inevitably calling her worse things than she already had), and the whole time she was rocking there, feeding Aika, she couldn’t stop herself from hypothesizing all of the negative ways the day could go. Once the girl felt like she’d gotten enough and broke from her latch, squirming and giving content sounds that showed her fullness, she was put back in her crib for the moment as Kaede got herself back together, putting the dress back on properly and leaving the room to check her appearance in the closest mirror.</p><p>The first thing she noticed when she caught a glimpse of her reflection was how lopsided her chest looked, one side clearly more engorged than the other, and she let out a long, drawn-out sigh to show her disdain for what she knew she had to do. “Shuichi, I’ll be in the bedroom for a while,” she called out, not fully certain where he was as she spoke but knowing that in their small home, he’d be able to hear her regardless of where he was. If they were going to have company, she needed to do her part to make herself look at least semi-presentable, and if that meant pumping to get things a bit more balanced, so be it.</p><p>At least in that case she was able to curl up in bed as the machine did its job, playing on her phone while she had nothing else to do. She could have easily taken everything out to the living room to be present in case Shuichi needed her for something, but it was always more comfortable to be in bed than anywhere else. It was good that she’d chosen to do that in the bedroom, though, as about fifteen minutes in she heard someone else’s voice echoing through the house, Kaito announcing his arrival with a loud, rowdy holler.</p><p>Whatever was going on out in the rest of the house was done just quiet enough that she couldn’t hear a word of it, minus whenever Kaito would exclaim something (usually the word sidekick, which he loved to proclaim despite there being no power imbalance between the friends). That meant that, unless someone was to barge into the bedroom unannounced, Kaede was completely in the dark about what was happening, and she hated not knowing what was happening under her own roof. There wasn’t any way she could speed up the process, though, and so she was forced to sit patiently and continue collecting milk until she couldn’t any longer.</p><p>The knock at the bedroom door came right as she was thinking of calling it a day, and she, in her surprise at hearing it, threw a blanket over herself and told whoever was there to come in, only to immediately regret it when it was Maki who opened the door and walked inside with a sour expression on her face. “I’m still angry with you, I hope you know,” she started as she closed the door with her foot, “but Kaito will murder me if I don’t apologize so…here. I’m sorry for not being overjoyed you’re feeding into the world’s overpopulation.”</p><p>“That doesn’t sound that sorry to me,” Kaede replied, shifting uncomfortably under the blanket as she tried to get the pump off of herself without making it too obvious that was what she was doing. “You could’ve left out the part where you think I’m doing something wrong, that would’ve been a start.”</p><p>“Yeah, Kaito told me that too and I told him to mind his own business.” Leaning her head forward, the end of Maki’s single long ponytail brushed the backs of her knees, only to snap backward when she threw her head back up, a look of determination in her eyes. “I’m mostly bitter about you lying to me, and I’m saying things I don’t necessarily mean or agree with because I’m expressing that. Is that better?”</p><p>Pursing her lips together, Kaede considered accepting that as an apology, but she was feeling just feisty enough to not go through with it. “Not really, you’re acting like I owe you the truth all the time, when sometimes, a person just wants to have a secret that they keep to themselves for a little while. If I’d told you when I found out, that would’ve been weeks before I wanted anyone to know, and that would’ve been bad, you know?”</p><p>“I suppose, but you could’ve chosen to be coy about it some other way, instead of making up stories that no one should’ve been believing in the first place, to get us to watch your kid for you to cover your asses.” Now Maki was walking around the bedroom like she belonged in it, despite her usually being told to stay outside, and she kept glancing towards Kaede and her occasionally wriggling gymnastics she was attempting under the blanket, before coming out and saying, “I can tell you’re trying to do something. What, the idea of getting chewed out making you feel some sort of way?”</p><p>Giving a hollow laugh, Kaede replied, “No, actually, I was in the middle of finishing up with something rather personal—not in <em>that </em>way—when you came in. If you wouldn’t mind, could you turn away and not look for, like, two minutes?” She was given a couple slow blinks before Maki obliged, and in the time her back was turned Kaede was able to get everything taken care of and back to being properly dressed, so that when her so-called friend turned back to face her once more, she was sitting on the edge of the bed without the blanket covering her from toes to neck. “Thanks, now we can talk without me feeling like I’m hiding or something.”</p><p>“Right, even though I don’t think there’s much left for me to talk to you about. I’m not getting over your lies that quickly, and that’s all I wanted to say to you.”</p><p>“But, uh, you heard me explain why we lied like we did, and we didn’t mean any harm by it. It’s just a pleasant little surprise that kind of dropped into all of our laps, and we’re going to roll with it.” Grinning, Kaede hoped that her positivity would be enough to get Maki to at least rethink things slightly, but based on how she received an eyeroll in return, she knew her attempts were futile. “Come on, Maki, you really don’t think we intended on doing this, do you? Why would we want two kids so close in age?”</p><p>“I don’t know, because you’re crazy and want to watch the world around you burn?” The tone she spoke with wasn’t nearly as angered and heated as how she’d been talking when she entered the room, which showed that Maki was beginning to soften slightly. “I guess I didn’t think about that aspect of it, it just felt like you were planning something in your life and lied to cover yourselves about it, and that left me out of things.”</p><p>Coming to understand Maki’s perspective a bit better, Kaede hopped off the bed and approached her friend, finding her flinching back before she could get too close. “Look, I would’ve definitely gone to do more workouts if I’d known I could do it without being intentionally harmful, since I knew that we’d set up all these lofty goals and for me to suddenly be, like, hey I can’t do this for no specific reason, don’t you think you’d suspect something was going on?”</p><p>“True, you’d be called out for it sooner than you wanted in that case.” Her eyes looking up at the ceiling, Maki traced a pattern into the floor with her toes, dragging them along as she thought about something else she needed to say. “I probably shouldn’t have made any comments about how you look, knowing what I know now. As much as I know you hate it, you’re being mindful for your new baby and if it means pushing getting back into shape onto the back burner, that’s what you’re going to do.”</p><p>“I…think you and Tenko probably hate that more than I do, if we’re being honest,” Kaede said, thinking about how much self-hatred she’d possessed towards her appearance until she’d realized that she was just going to be going through all the changes again anyway. “There’s always time to work on myself once I’ve got two little people to be chasing around, I’ll focus on getting back into my best body once I’m done making little humans.”</p><p>Maki grimaced, her eyes going from looking up down straight to the ground. “Please, for the love of everything, never say it that way again.”</p><p>“No promises, I think I’ve got a couple shirts that say that, I’ll have to break those out once I’m out of other things to wear.” The two of them laughed, although Maki’s laughs were much more forced than Kaede’s were, and after they shared a hug to put everything under the bridge, at least for the moment, they headed out of the bedroom to see what their respective (for better or worse) other halves were up to. On the way, for the first time since she’d gotten out from under the blanket, Maki was able to look at Kaede and genuinely smile at her, even commenting on how cute her dress was, to which she received the response, “Thanks, I don’t think I’ll ever wear it again.”</p><p>It was never a good sign when the first thing they heard upon opening the door was Kaito loudly asking, “How can you get her to let you just go at it whenever you want? Either you’re hiding something impressive, or she’s really into it, and I’ve gotta know which of those it is! C’mon, you’ve gotta tell me right now!”</p><p>“I-I don’t know how to answer that,” Shuichi stammered in reply, looking over his shoulder from where he was standing in the living room to see the ladies approaching. “I’m not really sure Kaede would appreciate me talking at length about that sort of thing, and I don’t know if I could bring myself to do it, anyway.”</p><p>“You dumbass, you already know that what they’ve got going on between them is different than what we have,” Maki said, her face reddening at the mere thought of them having this conversation. “Case in point, they’ve got two kids, sort of, and I’d never be caught dead having one. We play by different rules. Now can we drop this subject before you start wanting to compare…I don’t know, lengths or something?”</p><p>Kaito stared at her for a moment, before looking at Shuichi, who was very rapidly nodding along with what Maki had said. “I suppose you want me to listen to her, huh.”</p><p>“It’d be appreciated, if we’re being honest with ourselves. This is too awkward for me to deal with right now, especially since,” he bounced Aika in his arms, her babbling like she didn’t have a care in the world, “there’s someone too young to be listening to this sort of thing right here with me.”</p><p>“Geez, you boys and making everything a competition about sexual stuff,” Kaede joked, coming right up to Shuichi’s side so that she could reach down and tickle one of Aika’s feet, getting the girl to babble a bit more. “I’m sure the next time it’s just the two of you together, you’ll be back to this topic and getting much more in detail.”</p><p>“Kaede <em>please</em>, I’m not discussing this with him, not now or ever.” To say that Shuichi was beginning to look mortified at what was happening would have been a gross understatement, and his embarrassment was enough to feed her spirits for a while. Obviously, she was well-aware that people knew more about their relationship than she would have liked, but it was a healthy thing to discuss in the right contexts.</p><p>Of course, the right context might not have meant being in the presence of a baby, nor would it have been with the wives right nearby, but it was typical Kaito to have tried to do that anyway. “We’ll get back to it someday, sidekick,” he assured Shuichi with a wink. “And when we do, I’ll start first by telling you some of my strategies I’ve had work for me. All this time me and Maki Roll have been goin’ at it and—”</p><p>Maki cut him off with a deep bellow. “If you dare finish that sentence, you’re going home with one less piece of you to be proud of,” she threatened, miming a pair of scissors with her fingers, and he quickly shut himself up. “Sorry, he forgets that no one wants to hear the nasty details about people’s lives. That, and that he doesn’t have to worry so much about little gremlins because I make it a point to keep them from happening.”</p><p>“Unlike us,” Kaede said, biting her lip as she watched Maki give a single, serious nod. “Can’t tell if you’re judging us or if you’re trying to convince me that we need to start doing things your way in the future.”</p><p>“And we’re back to discussing exactly what we’ve been trying to get away from!” Finally exasperated to the point that he would have thrown his arms into the air if he wasn’t holding one of the most precious things in the world, Shuichi began to walk away from the conversation, since they weren’t stopping talking about it. “If you need me, I’ll be in Aika’s room reading to her. I need to think about pure things to get all of this off my mind.”</p><p>Kaito, knowing that he was already on thin ice, started to say, “Big words, coming from a man who—” This time he was cut off by Kaede and Maki both, neither of them wanting to hear what was going to come next, while Shuichi let out an annoyed groan and headed out of the room faster, disappearing into the small adjacent room and making sure to audibly close and lock the door behind him.</p><p>“You married him,” both of the women said at the same time, looking at each other as they found amusement in the other’s husband’s behavior in the moment. At hearing them, Kaito started to laugh, which prompted Kaede to add, “And you’re the one who’d be having kids with him if you were into that.”</p><p>“Huh, I wonder why I’m super not into that,” Maki replied with the straightest face she could muster, ceasing Kaito’s laughter at once. “Must be because I know that doing that would unleash the worst kind of hell on this world.”</p><p><em>seven</em>.</p><p>The year before, Halloween had been a bit of a sore subject for Kaede, who’d been so bothered by the fact that she didn’t have so much as an inkling of a bump to dress up that she’d been upset about the holiday for days and days. Now, with three days to go before the big day, she’d realized she hadn’t actually put any thought into what she should dress up as, let alone what she was going to do for Aika for her first endeavor on the holiday. “Do you think we should go stupidly traditional on this?” she asked Shuichi after he got home that evening, the first thing she said to him when he walked in the door.</p><p>“I’m not sure what you’re referring to here,” he replied, missing the context completely because she’d neglected to give him any. “If this is about the baby, then yes, anything traditional is my vote, we don’t need to get crazy.”</p><p>She giggled, getting Aika to echo her despite the girl currently laying on the floor playing with dangling toys above her head (although the extent to which she was actually playing was debatable at best). “I wasn’t talking about the baby, even though I definitely agree there, we’re not doing anything we didn’t do last time. I’m talking about Halloween! We’ve got three days to decide how we’re dressing up this year!”</p><p>“Right, that’s a thing we should’ve been thinking about for a while now. Guess with everything else going on, it kind of slipped our minds, didn’t it?” He was speaking the truth, as it was something that Kaede hadn’t put any thought to until she’d realized how close it was to the holiday earlier that day. Seeing how correct he was, he tried to come up with some suggestion for what they could do there on the spot, but found himself with no ideas that sounded like they’d work.</p><p>The theme of their night was trying to put together not just costumes for themselves, but one for Aika as well, even though she was far too young to even care about dressing up in the first place. Every time one of them would have an idea, the other would shoot it down for various reasons, whether it was “too simple” or “not enough time to get it ready”, and by the time they’d eaten dinner and the night had passed them by for the most part, they’d gotten nowhere in the discussions, which frustrated Kaede as she knew this was their chance to do something cutesy and memorable. “I’m not sleeping until we know what we’re dressing as, so I can worry with getting it ready tomorrow or the next day.”</p><p>“I don’t know how to tell you this, Kaede, but I think it might be too late to get anything decent.” Grimacing because he knew her reaction was not going to be pleasant, Shuichi found himself surprised when she didn’t say anything against what he’d said. “We might just have to go with something simple and easy to put together, and hope that next year we remember far enough in advance.”</p><p>“Okay, that’s great and all, but that doesn’t help me right now. I have to do something, pictures will be needed and I’m not just going to sit here in my everyday clothes with Aika in something super boring, when it’s the one day of the year we’re allowed to dress up.” She scrunched up her face in thought, while looking down at the girl who had dozed off laying on the seat between them. “Even if I can’t get dressed up, she’s got to.”</p><p>“Then let’s start there and see if anything sticks, and then perhaps you’ll be able to come up with something for yourself…and me, I suppose.” Shuichi held out a hand, which Kaede grabbed and squeezed, understanding that him being willing to dress up with her was a decently big offer. “I’m not going to be too devastated if we can’t do it, but you’re right that Aika needs to be able to.”</p><p>With that in mind, they were able to start searching on their phones for any pointed suggestions, and after a joking one was given to them by Kaito (who had gotten dragged into the conversation by Shuichi, just in case he’d had any ideas), they were pointed in a new direction. “I know he didn’t really mean we dress her as an astronaut, but how about a star?” Kaede said, having pulled up a list of star-themed costumes that stores nearby claimed to have in stock. “Do you think that’d work, since she’s the star of our lives?”</p><p>“As cute as that is, I don’t think that’s what we should go with.” Looking at his own screen as Kaito was typing a follow-up to the message, Shuichi gave a low hum before offering, “We could do what people expect us to do and dress her up in some way that aligns with our own interests. But then again, what does a pianist costume look like? Would they sell your stereotypical detective gear in her size? And why, just why, is Kaito saying she should be a pumpkin like every other child?”</p><p>“I’m not resorting to that, no matter how desperate I end up getting.”</p><p>Shuichi’s fingers were already flying across his phone’s screen. “Telling him exactly that right now, thanks.”</p><p>“I meant the ‘dress her like our interests’ bit, but the pumpkin thing is pretty bad too.” Throwing her head back against the cushion behind her, Kaede closed her eyes and tried to imagine what she wanted to see her baby in as her first costume, but found herself merely processing what had already been suggested as options. “I’m at a loss here, Shuichi. How did we completely screw this one up?”</p><p>“Something tells me that if we weren’t already planning for what’s to come next year, we’d have been a bit more on it, but it is what it is.” He looked down at Aika’s sleeping form, seeing how she was curled up with one of her fists pressed against her jaw, like she’d fallen asleep in deep thought. “Hey, wait, Kaede, I <em>think</em> I have an idea…”</p><p>Her eyes cracked open and she leaned back up slightly, turning her gaze toward him with all of the interest in the world. “What is it? Can’t be as bad as what Kaito was suggesting.”</p><p>“It isn’t as bad, sure, but it’s definitely not the greatest. How about she dresses as a cat? That’s something we could all do, if you can’t come up with anything for the two of us, and it’d be cute enough that anyone who saw her would enjoy it.” His shrug at the end showed that he held little attachment to his idea, but the way Kaede perked up at it let him know he hadn’t made a mistake in voicing it.</p><p>She too looked at Aika, before scrambling to make a search on her phone about where she could get an infant cat costume as soon as the next day, with no time to spare. “You’re a real genius, I hope you know.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t call myself that, not in this context.” His soft chuckle showed his amusement at the lofty title his wife had bestowed upon him, and when he leaned over to kiss her cheek softly she surprised him by turning so that they lips met for just a moment, before he was pulling away with another chuckle. “I’m just trying my best to do what I can here, that’s all.”</p><p>“Still better than I did,” she reminded him, before excitedly showing him the costume she’d found on her phone. “I’ll pick this up first thing in the morning, unless you’re planning on going into work early and leaving me car-less all day.”</p><p>“Going to work early isn’t the plan, but I don’t think you’ll be up and out of bed before I do go in, so let’s leave the buying to me, shall we?” It was honestly more responsibility in the situation than Shuichi wanted, but he knew Kaede well enough to know that she wasn’t going to get it done if morning was when she planned on getting it done. Yet, despite his offer, she refused to let him take care of fixing her mistake, and they were left trying to decide who’d buy the costume the next day, neither of them wanting to let the other do it for various reasons.</p><p>It took reaching out to another friend to get things settled, Tenko willing to drop everything to go out costume shopping with Kaede the next afternoon, so that she could be the one to buy what they needed but do it at a time that was more in line with when she’d be awake. Once that was finally put to rest, it was time to head to bed—or so Shuichi thought, coming to be surprised after he’d changed into his pajamas and could hear piano music beginning to play, a song different than anything he’d heard before.</p><p>Sneaking back out to the living room, he saw Aika still asleep on the couch and Kaede sitting on the piano bench, her fingers on one hand tapping keys while the ones on the other documented the notes on her phone. “What are you doing?” he asked, giving her a bit of a spook when she’d heard the first syllable, her scrambling to stop what she was doing. “It’s a curious question, you know I don’t mind the live music.”</p><p>“Since she’s still asleep and you’re headed that way, I thought I’d get a bit of practicing for my next song in,” she explained, gesturing to the screen of her phone and how she had a music creation app open. “It’s not going to go anywhere anytime soon, I’ve got to find what we did with the heartbeat machine and get listening to that rhythm, but finding a good key to start with is, well, a start.”</p><p>“I’m not going to pretend like I understand what’s going through your musician mind right now, but I’m going to say you should head to bed and leave it at that.” Stifling a yawn as he realized how tired he was from his day, Shuichi watched her turn back to her piano keys and give a soft sigh. “You do whatever you want to, I’m not going to be the boss of your decisions. Just…remember what you’ve got going on tomorrow.”</p><p>“Tenko won’t be here until after lunch, I’ve got plenty of time to figure this out and still get enough sleep.” To silence him, she began playing notes with one hand again, at a different part of the keyboard than she’d been on before, and he decided it was not worth it to try convincing her to get some sleep while she could. If she wanted to be exhausted the next day, it was her choice and her choice alone.</p><p>He fell asleep without her in the bed next to him and with the sound of piano music occasionally drifting through the house, and when he woke up her side of the bed was noticeably used but still empty. There wasn’t any time for a told-you-so, though, not when he could hear Aika crying for whatever reason from the living room, and when he got out to see what was happening it was the sight of her screaming in her mother’s arms that greeted him. To say Kaede looked like she’d been through the wringer would have been an understatement, but he couldn’t bring himself to point out that he’d been right and that she should have gone to bed with him, not when she gave him the dirtiest look from where she was laying on the couch. “If you love me, you’d take her for five minutes so I can power nap,” she begged, to which he obliged not out of the threat but because he couldn’t stand hearing the crying as much as he currently was. “She’s been like this since before sunrise, I think she’s getting sick or something.”</p><p>“Because that’s how life goes, we figure out what she’ll be for Halloween and she ends up being too sick to wear it.”</p><p>
  <em>eight.</em>
</p><p>Thankfully for them, what was ailing Aika wasn’t a sickness, but rather the appearance of her first tooth trying to break its way through her gumline; it didn’t matter either way as she was still inconsolable with the pain and fever that it was putting her through. She was still able to be dressed up on Halloween evening, but as she was still fussy and running slightly warm, they opted to keep her inside and not parade her around the neighborhood as they’d planned to. Her cat costume amounted to little more than a black onesie, furry ears that sat on a headband that she frequently knocked off in her flailing, and a tail that attached around her on an elastic belt, but with some added whiskers drawn onto her cheeks with some paint she was a cute enough kitten for the night.</p><p>The theme of being cats was taken to its logical extremes with the adults of the house, meaning that Shuichi had ended up with whiskers painted on his face as well, in addition to having a pink spot put at the tip of his nose, but no other costume parts to be seen. Kaede, on the other hand, had gone with a pair of ears of her own, and the back of her shirt had a tail drawn on it, but the front of it was what she was most proud of. Like so many of her quirky shirts she’d collected over the past year, the theme of this one was to show without too many words that she was pregnant, and it did it with the image of a baby skeleton across her stomach, but she’d added cat ears to its image with white paint. “We’re going all-in on this theme,” she proudly told Shuichi after she’d made that modification to the shirt the night before, “and I am never wearing this again after today so let’s make it count.”</p><p>He’d thought it to be humorous how she wanted to give them a matching theme across their outfits, even though they weren’t doing anything particularly special that evening, and let her do as she pleased without any interruption. Pictures were taken of her and Aika together, especially whenever the girl was content, and it was turning out to be more of a family affair than anything else.</p><p>Two things happened that night that they weren’t expecting, coming after the porch light had been set on and children from around their neighborhood were going door-to-door to receive candy. It was a miracle that there was any candy to be had there at the house, given that they’d been trying to save money from frivolous purchases, but Kaede had begged to be allowed to get something to pass out if needed, and Shuichi couldn’t argue with her forever on why that was a bad idea. This was despite him knowing that she’d most likely eat more of the candy herself sitting waiting for children to come by, than she would actually give candy to their visitors.</p><p>The first strange thing to happen was an unexpected visit from some friends, not dressed in any costumes but instead there for reasons that they’d come by for many times before. “The damn power’s out in the building again,” Maki grumbled as she walked in the door past Kaede, who had opened it expecting a small child but found her smaller friend instead. “Kaito was<em> so</em> looking forward to passing treats out to the kids from the building, too.”</p><p>“And since that’s not happening,” he added, following Maki inside with a big bag of sweets tucked underneath his jacket, “I decided to bring them over here instead for you guys. You’d appreciate that sort of thing, yeah?”</p><p>“Sure, just add it to the bucket.” Shuichi waved towards the large candy bucket that was set up on the end of Kaede’s piano bench, mostly full already but as that was all they’d bought, it would’ve dwindled down without any way of stopping it. “There’s been a few kids by already, but I’m sure neither of you will be interested in…” He trailed off as he looked down at the notebook he had open on his lap, before glancing over at Kaito. “Hey, once you finish up with the candy, I actually need your opinion on something.”</p><p>Surprised that his opinion was requested so unexpectedly, Kaito threw the bag out of his jacket and onto the floor at the foot of the bench and leapt to see what Shuichi needed from him. “So I see you went with cats,” Maki remarked, looking Kaede over as she shut the door to keep any further guests out. “I would’ve thought you’d have taken Kaito’s astronaut suggestion to heart.”</p><p>Kaede smiled, pulling out the hem of her shirt to admire her handwork on the front of it again. “We had a lot of different options, but this one seemed easiest to pull off. Can’t exactly go crazy when you only have a few days to get it together, especially when the one this is all for isn’t feeling her best.”</p><p>“She catch something?” There was a sense of genuine worry in Maki’s voice, which dried up entirely when Kaede shook her head at the question. “Oh, then are you talking about yourself? I’m sure you’ve got plenty of reasons for not feeling great.”</p><p>“No, it is definitely Aika I’m talking about. She’s got her first tooth coming in and she’s not having a great time with it. All she’s done for days is whine and cry and not stop, no matter what.” Kaede reached up and brushed her hand against one of her ears, which had slid slightly to the side over the course of her door-opening thus far. “It’ll be fine, though, she’ll get over it soon enough and she’ll be back to her happy self.”</p><p>“If she starts screaming while I’m here, I’m ducking out.” It was a response perfectly understandable from Maki, and it wasn’t until she’d walked away from the door and headed for the kitchen that it dawned on Kaede that in all of that, Maki had shown rare, actual care for a child.</p><p>With two people they hadn’t accounted for in the house, usually events would have gotten off the rails, but whatever Shuichi had needed Kaito for was occupying his time, and Maki was making her own fun elsewhere in the house, so Kaede was rather pleased that she was still getting her chill, laid-back experience passing out candy to children. Occasionally she’d have Aika with her when she’d open the door, and whoever was on the other side would comment on the presence of the baby, and if they were old enough—or observant enough—to understand what Kaede’s shirt was referring to, they’d mention that as well. The night might not have been exactly what she’d pictured when it came to her daughter’s first Halloween, but it was a time worth enjoying.</p><p>That changed when the flow of children at the door slowed to a crawl, and she was starting to consider calling it a night in regards to passing out candy. She was just about to suggest giving it a few more minutes and turning off the light when there was a hard knock at the door, akin to the one that had happened when Kaito and Maki had shown up, and she gave a head count of everyone that was there before she went to answer it. Standing on the other side was not a friend as she’d begin to suspect it would be, but a girl she recognized as being a child who lived two houses down the street from theirs. “Happy Halloween, Mrs. Saihara!” the girl greeted, tipping the brim of her hat as she gave a dramatic bow. “Am I too late to get any treats?”</p><p>“Not at all, Kougetsu,” she replied, smiling at the girl before reaching over to where the candy was sitting. In that second, she called back to Shuichi, “Come here, there’s a costume you’ve got to see before she goes home.”</p><p>By the time she’d dropped the candy in the girl’s waiting bag, Shuichi was there at the door as well, looking at Kougetsu and her very clearly thrifted detective getup. “I’m going to guess you’re being a female Sherlock?” he asked, pointing at the deerstalker cap and the rest of the old-timey clothes that fit the bill, but when the girl pouted he was taken aback. “No? Then what’s the costume here?”</p><p>“I’d think a well-read detective such as yourself would know about Sherlock’s younger sister,” Kougetsu told him, setting her bag down to cross her arms over her chest. “I told Daddy that I wanted to dress up as Enola Holmes and he said he’d make it happen, but then this is what he gave me and told me that just ‘cause I’m a girl, people would know and obviously they don’t! Every person who’s guessed who I am has said I’m a girl Sherlock and I’m not supposed to be!”</p><p>Sharing a look between them as they tried to even understand what was going on, let alone what the girl was talking about, Shuichi ended up clearing his throat to say, “Er, well, I’m sorry that I didn’t get your literary reference. I’m not as familiar with those stories as you’d think I am, as he’s not a real detective.”</p><p>“Whoa, what’s going on over here?” Kaito loudly asked, entering the conversation at the doorway by looking straight over Kaede’s head to see the girl out on the front step. “Hey, that’s a pretty nice costume you’ve got there! Can I ask you to solve the crime of why our power’s out?”</p><p>“I’m not a <em>real</em> detective.” Mocking the words Shuichi had just used about the person she was apparently not supposed to be dressed as, Kougetsu scrunched her nose in Kaito’s direction. “And I don’t know who you are, mister, so I’m not helping you.”</p><p>Blinking a few times as he processed having been told off like that by a literal child, Kaito accepted it with a nod. “Sounds about right, stranger danger and all that. You have a good night, kid, and keep up being smart with strangers!”</p><p>“Why’s he in your house?” she asked once he’d walked away, and Shuichi had gone with him to continue working on whatever had been occupying their time. “Is he your second boyfriend or something?”</p><p>Stunned at how that assumption would be made, Kaede’s mouth hung open slightly for a moment before she replied, “No, that’s Kaito, he’s an old friend of ours. He and his wife—Maki! You know Maki, she’s the one I’ve gone running with a couple times—they’re here right now because, as he said, their power’s out at home.” She was beginning to think that Kougetsu was there at their door for a reason beyond getting candy, and so she crouched down and whispered, “Are you trying not to go home right now?”</p><p>“You got it,” the girl barely squeaked out in reply, “but don’t let me go inside, Daddy will find out and then he’ll be mad about that. No one’s home right now and I don’t wanna be there alone.” This was a girl of around ten years old, being left home alone on Halloween didn’t seem safe at all, especially when she added, “They went to the store when they sent me out to get candy, and they’re still not home.”</p><p>“Then you can just wait here and keep talking to me until they’re back, that’s fine,” Kaede decided, flipping the porch light off and propping the door open with her body to keep it lit well on the front step. “I’m even sure that you could come in for a moment, I think your parents will understand if you were in here to, say, see Aika.”</p><p>“The baby?” Kougetsu’s eyes lit up at the offer, and when Kaede nodded she jumped up and down excitedly, scooping up her candy bag and running into the house. Her focus, which had been set on finding Aika, abruptly changed course when she saw the piano in the corner of the living room. “Ooh, Mrs. Saihara, is this where all the lovely music comes from?”</p><p>Keeping watch at the door for any sign of the car that was usually parked outside of Kougetsu’s house coming down the street, Kaede was a bit surprised that she’d heard what she had just been asked. “Y-you can hear that from your house? I didn’t realize it was so loud, sorry about that.”</p><p>“No, it’s so pretty! I always tell Daddy that I’m gonna be a famous piano player someday, because I hear your music and I want to play just like you!” Restraining herself from charging at the piano without permission, Kougetsu was giving it longing looks as she waited to be told she could go play it; unfortunately for her, Kaede was not one to let strangers play her piano without her there with them, and as she was keeping watch at the door she wasn’t going to back down. “Maybe someday he’ll pay for me to have lessons, then I can play with you in the future!”</p><p>“That would be neat,” Kaede said, her eyes having to flicker quickly between watching what Kougetsu was doing and what was happening out on the street. “But you’re inside to see Aika, not talk to me about pianos, so hurry up and see her so you can get going.”</p><p>The girl nodded, jumping across the floor and flopping down next to where Aika was laying on her blanket, squirming and trying her hardest to roll over, her cat ears having shot off her head at some point while she was there. “She’s so cute, I love her so much,” she cooed, reaching to touch Aika’s dark hair before grabbing her own and laying some of it on top of Aika’s head. “We almost match!”</p><p>“Why is Kougetsu still in here?” Shuichi asked, noticing what the girl was doing to the baby in that moment. “Better yet, why is the door still open?”</p><p>“Don’t worry, she’s leaving now. Hurry, I see your dad’s car coming down the street.” Kaede’s words were delivered flatly, but they carried with them just enough urgency that the girl jumped to her feet and ran out of the house as quickly as she’d come into it, not giving so much as a goodbye. As she closed the door, Kaede then explained, “She wanted to see Aika so I let her, and she got distracted by my piano. Didn’t know that she was interested in being a pianist as well.”</p><p>“Doesn’t explain much, but I suppose it works.” There may have been more that Shuichi had wanted to say, but he was interrupted by Aika beginning to scream, having realized that she had been disturbed and that she wasn’t enjoying it. “Shall I take care of the little kitten, or are you going to?”</p><p>Sighing deeply, Kaede said she’d handle it, and soon she was sitting on the blanket with Aika in her arms, rocking her and bouncing her in an attempt to get her to calm down. “You know, the cat thing’s pretty neat, but with how much you love her, I’m surprised you didn’t go with something cute, like…a princess,” Kaito admitted, watching as Kaede was doing her lovingly, motherly thing. “Or something strong, like a fireman or a cowgirl or—”</p><p>He was shut up by Maki having walked up behind where he was sitting and wrapped her hands around his mouth, her smugly smiling now that he couldn’t continue talking without being muffled. “I think cats are fine for this, since cats have a million litters and that seems to be the direction you’re going. Should really look into getting spayed after this.”</p><p>“You silenced him for giving suggestions for costumes, when you wanted to say something like that, huh,” Shuichi said, giving her a side-eye that she returned without hesitation. “Anyway, it’s not like we were intending for any of this to happen, but you already know that. If there’s any kids after this, and that’s a <em>big</em> if, it’ll be quite some time.”</p><p>“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Letting go of Kaito’s mouth, Maki propelled herself up over the couch and found herself sitting on its arm, leaning into her husband’s shoulder as she tried to see what the two men had been working on. Her gasp that she gave when she saw the slightest hint of the notes made Kaede’s ears perk up, but she didn’t dare ask because she knew that she’d find out in due time, and that having Maki explain something could result in sarcastic comments about children being made.</p><p>At any rate, Kaede’s mind was more focused on getting Aika back to being her usual self, as well as wondering if Kougetsu had made it home safe and sound without any issues. That girl had been their neighbor for as long as they’d lived in that house, but it had only been in the past few months that she’d learned her name, and that had come in seeing her out in her yard when she’d go by with Aika in a stroller and occasionally Maki or Tenko running alongside her. There seemed to be many layers to that quirky girl, and she was beginning to wonder if she should use her time being a stay-at-home mother to perhaps reach out and help that girl work towards her dreams.</p><p>
  <em>nine.</em>
</p><p>Shuichi stood outside of the door at Kaito and Maki’s apartment, having knocked to let anyone inside know he was there but waiting to be left in. He fidgeted, holding his hat in his hands as he waited, asking himself if he had a solid reason for why he was there in the middle of the day when he could have been working, or spending time at home with his wife and daughter while it was still just the three of them there. When Maki finally opened the door, she looked up and down the hall to check to make sure it was just him there before she let him inside, giving the door every latch she could once he’d entered.</p><p>“I know I should have said something about coming over before I showed up, but I know that time’s not on our side here and I need to make sure that I’m not wasting any of your time or my own,” he explained, taking his shoes off and walking into the rather sparsely-decorated living room, much more empty space than there was in his own house. “Thanks for being here when I need you.”</p><p>“I’m still not sure why you need <em>me</em>,” Maki replied with a tilt of her head, her eyes narrowed as she waited for any further explanation. She’d been lounging around, having a day off from her rather demanding job, when the knock had interrupted her peaceful time. “I know you and Kaito have something you’re planning, but that doesn’t mean I’m involved in it in any way, shape, or form.”</p><p>He nodded, hoping that his reason for being there would be acceptable enough to not earn Maki’s ire for it. “It’s nothing to do with what I’ve been talking to Kaito about, although I’m quite surprised he isn’t here. He actually working for a change?”</p><p>“You know it, him and those little jobs he takes while he tries to make his break into space exploration.” Rolling her eyes, Maki hopped up onto the kitchen counter while Shuichi took a seat in an armchair across the open room. “He’s mostly working right now so that we can finally get the hell out of this place, we’ve lost power twice since Halloween, and with winter right around the corner…we’re done suffering through staying here.”</p><p>“I don’t blame you in the slightest for that. They’ve really put you both through the wringer with how they haven’t taken care of the problems this place always seems to have.” Shuichi watched as Maki gave a small smile and glanced towards some of the appliances in the kitchen, all of which had been plagued with problems over the years. “But I think you know I’m not here to talk about your living space, or my own, for that matter. I’m looking for your insight on something that only someone in your line of work could be familiar with.”</p><p>Her smile fading fast, Maki began to put on the most stoic of faces she could manage. “I’m not sure what you mean by that, Shuichi. Are you looking to get into the seedy underside of the city for personal gain, or for a case you’re working on?” He signified it was the latter option with a nod, and she gave a sigh of relief. “Good, because if you were about to tell me you’re thinking of becoming a dealer, a hustler, or a kingpin, I was going to stop you right there. I couldn’t imagine how Kaede would take that sort of change.”</p><p>“She wouldn’t, that’s for sure, and that’s why I’m here to ask you about some of the people you’ve met while infiltrating those sorts of groups and dismantling them from the inside, because my next case deals with someone known to be in one.” Seeing the horror form in Maki’s eyes was the single reason he’d wanted to have this talk with her and her alone, at a time where Kaito wasn’t around and when they could be somewhere Kaede wasn’t, because this was an aspect to his job that he was careful to never bring up with his wife or best friend, who’d both worry to no end about his well-being. “If it’s any help, it’s someone known for cutting drugs.”</p><p>“Good, my absolute favorite to see get brought to justice,” she replied after a few tense moments of her thinking about the same people she knew Shuichi had on his mind, the people that would care about him if anything went wrong. “Let me guess, you’ve gotten put on the case of the drug lord who just murdered a man in broad daylight on Halloween, haven’t you?”</p><p>He hesitated but ultimately let her know she was correct. “Specifically I’m investigating the motive for the murder, making sure it isn’t mafia-related, but yes, that’d be right. I’ve heard a lot about how this guy kills whoever he wants to, whenever he wants, but he’s never been caught for some reason. Any ideas why?”</p><p>“I can tell you exactly why that is,” she answered tersely, nearly cutting him off, “but you are not going to like what I have to say.”</p><p>Maki was right, Shuichi could barely stomach what it was he heard coming from her, but when she finished delving into why the murder had happened and why she was certain she knew he’d never been brought to justice, he felt like this might have been a case he needed to get Kaede involved with. The only thing stopping him from suggesting that as a potential course of action was that he knew how headstrong she was, he knew that she would put herself in harm’s way intentionally if it meant helping him solve the case. “I’ll keep this in mind going forward, thank you, Maki,” he said after she’d delivered all the information she had, and she jumped down off the counter to show that she was done. “I’m not sure how to break this to Kaede, or if I will, but she might be playing a dangerous game if she keeps doing what I know, without a doubt, she’s thinking about doing.”</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>aaaaaaaaa here we go into why I enjoyed writing this fic so much! yes I'm excited for everyone's reactions, we're done just doing a cutesy slice of life fic, we're actually gonna have Drama and Bad Things and I'm so thrilled</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>ten</em>.</p><p>Almost a week later, Kaede found herself sitting at her piano, her elbows resting precariously on the edge of the keys, with her phone on her songwriting app and her mind shifting through all the note progressions she could be making. Aika was down for a nap and Shuichi was at work, which meant that she had the time to herself to make some real progress on getting the lullaby written for the second child. She’d been able to locate the fetal heartbeat machine in the mess of her closet and had pulled it out for an occasion such as the current one, knowing that she wanted to write music to the sound of this child’s heart just as she’d written music to the sound of Aika’s.</p><p>The single problem there was that this child was much harder to locate with the machine than Aika had ever been, and when she could find it there wasn’t as melodious of a sound as she’d heard before. It wasn’t anything she was worried about, she knew that what she was trying to do was going to be more difficult for her than it would’ve been for a doctor, but she still grew frustrated every time she tried and didn’t find immediate success. She knew that there was one to be found, she’d quite literally been at the doctor earlier that day to get a better idea of when her due date was, so it wasn’t even anything to be concerned over.</p><p>Her mind shifted from the struggle of trying to find the heartbeat to thinking about what she’d learned earlier, there at the appointment by herself because Shuichi couldn’t get the time away from the office, and she’d been lucky enough that she was able to find someone to watch Aika for the time she’d be busy. Being there with the doctor again so soon felt like there was something wrong, but she was assured over and over that everything was routine, and the scan came out pretty much as standard as they came. The biggest takeaway, beside going back in six to eight weeks to find out what the baby was, ended up being that the given due date of late May had been fairly accurate, but based on how things were measuring, the doctor felt confident in setting it as May twenty-seventh.</p><p>There in the office, Kaede had accepted that information with a smile and a nod, but she’d heard far too many people share their “knowledge” that second children tended to come early compared to the first one. She’d only asked the doctor if it was likely she’d have to wait as long to give birth as she had with Aika, the answer to which was a drawn-out explanation that there was no guarantee yes or no, but when she was back out at her car by herself she was stressing out over things. No matter what people said, she had a feeling that she’d be waiting longer than that date to meet this baby, although she was hopeful that it wouldn’t be waiting until forty-one weeks like she had before. But that still would put her at being uncomfortably pregnant when they celebrated Aika’s birthday, and that would overshadow the day for the little girl.</p><p>“All of this is going to fall apart on me, I know it,” she said, feeling tears forming in the corners of her eyes, sticking to her lashes and falling as she blinked. “I’m not strong enough to handle this.” She remembered how she’d looked distressed when she’d gotten home and had to pay Ryoma for his babysitting services, him asking her if everything was fine and her plastering a smile on her lips then to tell him that it was. He’d most likely not believed a word she said, but he didn’t question it and left without saying anything else; if someone she’d only seen a couple times over the past few months would read her for filth, how was Shuichi going to act when she could tell him what she’d learned?</p><p>One of her elbows slipped off of its perch and she fell forward, her face hitting her hand as the back of the hand hit several of the keys, and the discordant noise that filled the air shot her head straight back up. “Sorry, baby, but your song’s going to be more melodic than that, even if that’s all I seem to be able to hear right now from you.”</p><p>She picked up the heartbeat machine and decided to give it another go, lifting her shirt so that it was rolled up around her stomach, but that was where she froze. According to the doctor, she was one day shy of twelve weeks, and looking at herself from the sitting angle she was currently at, she felt like she was so much further along. It wasn’t any fault of the growing child, but rather her own, and she hated that she mentally felt she should have been that much closer to meeting who was inside and taking up all that space. Words found themselves caught in her throat as she closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and began placing the machine where she’d previously heard the heartbeat. The sound of the thumping began to echo out of its speaker and she exhaled, having finally found the beat without too much work, and all it had taken was a realization that she was in far too deep to stay afloat.</p><p>Kaede got a few sections of song written before she lost the heartbeat and was too content with what she’d created to try finding it again. Her fingers danced across keys that she’d determined would make up part of the lullaby, noticing their similarity to parts of Aika’s Lullaby but not minding it too much, because at the end of the day the children <em>were</em> going to be siblings. “I’m so going to forget which song is which soon enough,” she said to herself with a laugh, switching from the new song into the older one for a few moments, before ceasing playing entirely.</p><p>She was fully intending on tucking the machine somewhere nearby so that the next chance she had to play, she could get it set back up easily, but she got distracted while carrying it and took it back to the bedroom with her, realizing only once she was staring at her reflection through her peripheral vision that she’d done it. While standing, her stomach didn’t look quite as rounded and large as it had when she’d been sitting, but it was still a lot bigger than she’d remembered it being at that point when she’d been pregnant with Aika. It was something she could easily fact-check, pulling up her weekly pictures from the first time to compare, but at that moment she couldn’t bring herself to do it.</p><p>Setting down the machine on the end of the bed, she got closer to the mirror to look at herself, her shirt somehow having stayed rolled up even though she’d been walking around; the first thing she noticed was the same thing she’d seen ever since the last dozen or so weeks of her first pregnancy, that being her overall softer appearance. It wasn’t just something she saw in her stomach and chest, but in her legs, arms, and very noticeably her face, which had only become more cherubic in shape over time. None of it made her particularly thrilled with how she looked, but she’d begrudgingly accepted it as part of life when she’d decided she wasn’t going to be continuing with her workouts for the time being.</p><p>“Oh, I hope this is going to be worth it in the end,” she lamented, grabbing at the still-soft skin around her stomach, which she knew she’d be growing into soon enough. “I mean, duh, it’ll be worth it when I see this baby’s face for the first time, but after that, is it going to be something I look back on fondly, or that I regret forever?” Deep down she knew which way it was she was going to lean, but she wanted to be hopeful that things would work out differently than she felt they would. “At least hopefully there shouldn’t be a bunch more stretch marks, I’m pretty sure that my body’s done all the stretching it can do.”</p><p>Letting go of herself, she rolled her shirt back down and posed in front of the mirror with her shirt masking some of the shape her body had, and she sighed. “I’m not going to have much fun this time around, all of this is old territory I’ve been in and I’m not looking forward to the less glamorous parts of this life.” Kaede stared at herself for a while, sometimes envisioning her reflection from past times she’d stood in that same spot, from when she’d first moved in to many times during her first pregnancy, to the times she’d been fixated on all of her flaws after giving birth, yet she always came back to the current day, in her imperfect body she was helpless to stop in its changes.</p><p>“When this is over, I’m fixing things for real,” she promised herself, lifting a hand to her lips and gently kissing her fingers, before brushing them across her stomach. “I’m not going to let myself keep living like this, I want to love myself, damn it!” It may have been desperation talking, or it might’ve just been her wanting to feel better about things, but that seemed like a promise she could keep a year from then.</p><p><em>eleven</em>.</p><p>Over the course of the following two weeks, there were several changes that happened in the house that they had very little control over. One was Aika’s second tooth sprouting right in line next to her first one, giving her a pair of tiny teeth that she would chomp down on anything with. A second was the reveal of what Shuichi and Kaito had been discussing on Halloween night, which was rough plans for expanding their current home to accommodate the growing family and have room for guests to sleep over somewhere that wasn’t the couch. The third was the almost overnight change from Kaede looking like she’d merely been overindulging on sweets for a bit too long to actually having what could be recognized at a distance as a baby belly, which she was equal parts terrified about and excited for.</p><p>Fourth was that Aika had graduated from only occasionally rolling from her tummy to her back when she’d be laying on the floor, to actually rolling around just about any time she could. This meant that putting her down on her blanket in the living room was a dangerous game, since she could get herself anywhere in the house provided that the pathway there was clear, and she found it beyond giggle-worthy to roll under the piano bench and start trying to get on top of the pedals. Pillows and blockades became a mainstay around the house, which Kaede often forgot were in place when the fifth, and most important in her mind, thing would happen.</p><p>That thing was that she’d gathered the courage to walk down two houses to speak with Kougetsu’s father about giving his daughter piano lessons, mentioning the conversation that had taken place on Halloween as her reason for making the offer. He’d been apprehensive to accept the offer, until she assured him he wouldn’t have to pay anything for the service, and he decided to go through with it. To say Kougetsu was overjoyed to get the chance to learn the craft she was so fond of would have been an understatement, and she was scheduled to show up twice a week, provided no appointments were standing in her way, to get an hour of one-on-one piano lessons. “I’m gonna be better than you someday, Mrs. Saihara,” she insisted every time she’d be putting her hands in place on the piano keys, Kaede always having to move them into their correct positions. “Just you watch, it’s gonna happen.”</p><p>“Such confidence, Kougetsu,” she replied with a smile each practice. On that particular day, though, she pulled her helpful hands back before she’d fully corrected Kougetsu’s posture, and instead placed a piece of simple sheet music in front of her. “Show me what you’re capable of and play this song, will you please?”</p><p>The girl, beaming that she was given the floor to play something, hit what she read as the first note and immediately froze, the sour sound coming from the piano not what she’d been expecting. “Why’s it not playing right?” she asked, frantically looking towards Kaede for guidance. “Why’s your piano not working?”</p><p>“Check your notes, you’re not starting at the C like you should be.” It was a mistake Kaede had been fixing in prospective pianists for as long as she’d been working with students, which had been off and on for a long time. Hearing that incorrect note on one of the simplest scales had made her feel slightly nauseous, because she’d been so accustomed to her piano always playing the intended note, but she wasn’t going to let her student know that she’d done something that wrong. The second time that Kougetsu tried playing she was still off, but less so, and Kaede felt a bit better hearing that compared to the initial key.</p><p>But that wasn’t good enough for the girl, who grew frustrated at the sounds she was making and threw her fist onto the keys, creating a loud sound that Kaede had to stop by physically grabbing the girl’s wrist and pulling it away. “I’m not doing it right, Mrs. Saihara, and I need to do it right so I can be famous!”</p><p>“You have to practice, Kougetsu, and to practice you need to start by making sure your hands are on the right keys. Remember your scales and try it again.” In the back of her head Kaede was thinking about how the cacophonic sounds coming from her piano would undoubtedly wake Aika from her nap and cause more chaos than was already occurring there in the house. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to maintain a professional practice setting if she was having to calm down a crying baby, and she hoped that she’d be able to get Kougetsu moving in the right direction and filling the air with sweet music soon enough. Letting go of her wrist and setting her hands on the keys properly, she once again stepped back and gave the command for her to start playing.</p><p>The first few notes were correct the third time she tried playing, but then she used the wrong finger to play the wrong note and the frustration picked back up. “This is stupid, I’m supposed to be better at this than I’m doing! Why’s your piano not being nice to me!”</p><p>“It isn’t my piano’s fault, please stop blaming it for your mistake. You’re just overconfident in your abilities, it’s completely natural to make mistakes as you’re learning.” They were necessary words to be said, but Kaede could hear Kougetsu huffing and grumbling as she was saying them, which made her worry that their practice was about to be cut short due to the girl’s temper getting the best of her. “I’ll let you try one more time, if you’d like, otherwise I’m sitting down with you and we’re working on scales until you need to go home.”</p><p>“I don’t need to work on my scales! I can do this just fine!” Giving a proud <em>hmph</em> as she slammed her fingers back into position, Kougetsu began for the fourth time, getting almost to the end before she missed a transition down the keys and played yet another sour note, and her scream of frustration was loud enough to wake the dead—or, there in the house, the sleeping baby in the nearby bedroom.</p><p>When Aika’s screams became loud enough for them both to hear, Kaede gave Kougetsu a disappointed look before stepping out of the room to grab Aika from her crib. She’d rolled over in her sleep and was pressed up against the wooden bars, her arm on top banging against her side as she tried to kick herself over again. “I know, I know, you’re not happy you got woken up like this,” she said as she picked up the baby, bouncing her to try and get her to stop screaming, only to find that the entire back of her onesie she was wearing was soaked through. “…And you’re not happy to have been laying in your own mess, I get it.”</p><p>As she was changing her into clean and fresh things, Kaede began to hear the sound of music picking up in the house, which only prompted her to work a bit faster to see what was going on back at her piano. When Aika was no longer fussing and rather content, she was carried out to the living room, where Kougetsu stopped playing the piano entirely and started grinning at the presence of her teacher and the baby. “Well, hiya there, Aika! Good to see you again!”</p><p>“What was that you were doing while I was changing her?” Kaede asked, her eyebrows raising at what she was beginning to suspect was some deception. “I heard you out here playing, but it sounded absolutely correct to the music. What changed?”</p><p>“Oh, I, uh…” Kougetsu held up two fingers and mimed pressing keys with them. “I played the song like this, because that’s how I play music on my keyboard at home. I’m not really great with playing it like you do.”</p><p>Adjusting how she was holding Aika so that she could get in closer to the piano with a free hand, Kaede set her fingers on the keys and played the exact song she’d set out, her fingertips dancing across the ivory without any effort. “You’re telling me that you weren’t playing it like that?”</p><p>“Nope! Watch how I do it, Mrs. Saihara, it’s really cool!” After Kaede moved her hand away Kougetsu brought hers in, tapping the keys with her two pointer fingers and playing the same melody, albeit a bit clumsier than Kaede had. “See, I know how to make music, I just don’t follow the rules.”</p><p>While Kaede knew that it would be quite entertaining for someone to become a respected pianist despite ignoring the way they were supposed to play, she also knew that she was supposed to be teaching the girl how to play correctly. “If you want to be famous, you’ll have to start playing right,” she said, much to Kougetsu’s dismay, “but doing it the way you’re doing it shows me that you really do know the notes and what they should sound like, so…let’s get to working on scales, doing it the proper way, and you can start to learn how you’ll do this when you’re making money playing music.”</p><p>“Aw, okay,” she conceded, hanging her head and letting her dark curls fall into her face, only to throw them back and try playing the song with her fingers in the appropriate position again, hitting sour notes left and right. She still had no idea how frustrating hearing those notes could get for Kaede, and that was how it was going to stay. Kaede’s job during the twice-weekly sessions was to teach Kougetsu how to play correctly, and she wasn’t going to know that when she played incorrectly, she made her teacher’s stomach turn. Not even when the stomach-turning started coming from a different source, and she was abandoned with the baby set on the floor nearby so that she could dash out of the room and throw up somewhere without an audience to witness it.</p><p>By far one of the strangest experiences Kaede had ever had in her adult life was hearing someone playing her piano while she was on her knees in the bathroom, hacking out everything she’d eaten that day because it wasn’t agreeing with the child growing inside of her. She’d never, ever let anyone play her piano without her present, and it had not only happened twice that day, but it had happened because of the neighbor kid deciding that she could properly play notes when she wasn’t being actively tutored. “Maybe this whole thing isn’t going to work out as well as I’d hoped it would,” she told herself after she’d felt like she was well enough to rejoin her student in the living room. “Maybe I need to tell her that she can’t keep tutoring, not for right now.”</p><p>But when she got back out to seeing Kougetsu having given up on playing music completely to sit on the floor and hold Aika up into a sitting position, she decided that she could suffer through the bad notes if it meant seeing sweet moments like that.</p><p>
  <em>twelve.</em>
</p><p>Another week of the tutoring sessions had come and gone, them being an oddly helpful way for Kaede to get through the days without feeling like she had nothing else going on. It wasn’t so much that she looked forward to that hour twice a week where she was teaching someone her favorite craft as it was she was looking forward to knowing that the days had gone by and she was that much closer to getting to see her baby again. There was something about spending all the rest of her time caring for Aika and watching her learn the world around her bit by bit that made her excited to get to do it all again with the second child, but patience was a virtue she was quickly discovering she had very little of.</p><p>After the next Tuesday’s tutoring session, Kaede had sent Kougetsu back home with a wave off the front step, only to see Shuichi coming home at almost the same time. The silent stare he gave the girl as she walked across their yard to get to the sidewalk was rather out-of-character for him, but the girl didn’t think anything of it. Kaede did, though, and she made it a point to call it out right away. “I told you I started tutoring her weeks ago, you can’t act like you’re suddenly disgusted by it,” she said, scrunching her nose as he came up to the door and planted a kiss on her cheek. “And you definitely can’t get out of this by acting affectionate. What gives, Shuichi?”</p><p>“I’d rather not explain this while standing outside,” he told her, motioning for them both to enter the house, and once they were inside he grabbed her tightly in a hug, his arms wrapping around her upper body with as much force as he could manage. “You have to stop teaching her piano. Immediately.”</p><p>“If this is because you think she’s going to ruin my piano, we’ve worked past her bouts of anger and rage, she’s perfectly fine now,” she assured him, feeling his heart beating rapidly against her body, as if he was panicking about something, and when she felt him hug just a bit tighter she knew her response was not one he was looking for. “You have to tell me why I can’t keep teaching Kougetsu, it’s not a waste of my time or hers, she’s got real promise.”</p><p>When he answered, his voice was shaking, as if he was scared of something, and Kaede soon found out what that was he was scared of. “You’re actively endangering yourself and Aika every time you invite her into this house, and you don’t even know it,” he said, trying to steady his voice but failing on each word. “She’s not someone you need to associate with.”</p><p>“She’s ten, I don’t think she can cause us any harm.” Finding his whole argument to be rather silly, Kaede was about to ask him to let her go so that she could breathe, but what he said next made her blood run cold and become glad to be in his arms.</p><p>“It’s not her who will harm you, but her father. Her drug smuggling, murderer of a father, who I happen to be investigating for killing someone the same day that she told you he wasn’t home for a while.” The severity of the situation was clear in how Shuichi was able to deliver that news while still trembling, his worry for the safety of his family on full display. “I know it’s him because Maki is familiar with his crime empire, and she’s been keeping an eye on him for some time for her job. I wouldn’t say we’re working together on this, but I have been having her feed me information while I’m finding my own.”</p><p>Kaede thought about the man that he was referring to, who’d been so kind as to let her teach his daughter at no cost to him, and shook her head, refusing to believe what was being said. “I’m sure you’ve got the wrong man,” she said, hearing him sigh. “Well, what do you expect me to say? If he was someone doing illegal things, do you really think he’d let his daughter come spend time with me? She knows you’re a detective, I’m sure that news has gotten back to him.”</p><p>“And that’s exactly why you have to stop inviting her over for tutoring sessions. The moment he learns a detective is on his trail he’s going to assume it’s me, just because I’m an easy target, and then we’re all in danger.” His arms loosened their grip on Kaede, only to fall and begin wrapping around her lower, his hands firmly taking grab of her stomach. “I’m most worried about you, Aika, and this little one, because if the three of you suffer because of what I’ve been assigned to work on…how do you think I’ll handle that?”</p><p>“Not well,” she conceded, trying not to look down at where his hands were, even though she could certainly feel them. “But Kougetsu loves coming over to play piano, she’s gotten really good at it in such a short amount of time! Can’t you stop chasing her father’s trail and have someone else do it?”</p><p>That was when he let go of her completely and came to face her front, staring her down until their noses were nearly brushing against each other. “Kaede, I know that you adore that girl and are enjoying spending your time teaching her what you love, but my hands are tied on this. You’re endangering yourself by doing this.”</p><p>As much as she knew that he was most likely right, she still wanted to save her tutoring sessions any way she could. “It’ll be suspicious if suddenly I stop letting her come over. Can’t we at least let her continue until you have some way to make it not seem like we clearly know something we shouldn’t?”</p><p>“We’ve already accounted for that, and that’s what I have to talk to you about now.” Raising one arm and gesturing toward the back of the house, Shuichi was able to tell her the decently thought-out plan he’d come up with to get them away from the area for a while, so that they’d be safe and that he’d be able to continue with his investigation without putting loved ones in harm’s way. “I’ll stay with Kaito and Maki, and you can stay with Tenko and Himiko, and while we’re both out of the house we’ll be able to have the expansion work done on it. It’ll be a couple weeks until we can enact this plan, though, and in the meantime, we really have no choice but for you to continue with tutoring her.”</p><p>“I see,” she said, not quite getting why there had to be a wait on when they could start doing things if he’d already worked out the logistics. That was, until she glanced at the wall where the board for the new baby was hanging and she pieced things together on her own. “You’re making sure we can spend Aika’s first Christmas here at home, instead of split apart in our friends’ homes.”</p><p>“It’s a dangerous game we’ll be playing to do that, but yes, that’s why we’ll be waiting to start the renovations here.” Closing his eyes, Shuichi was clearly working through some other thoughts that he wanted to speak into existence, but he only said one thing: “I’d start moving anything you’d need out now, so that when we do leave we can do it quickly. Himiko’s been cooperative with this whole thing, she’s been getting Tenko to cooperate too, and they said they’ll have the space ready for you and Aika whenever you need it.”</p><p>“Why won’t you be staying there with us?” she asked, not having pieced that together. “Is it because of how Tenko feels about men?”</p><p>He laughed, a pleasant sound during such a serious moment. “No, although I hadn’t really thought about that aspect of things. I’ll be staying with the others because Maki and I are in this together, even if she doesn’t work at the agency, and we’re going to be there for each other in case anything happens to one of us. She’s more skilled in taking down men of this type than I am, clearly, but she’s not the one getting her hands muddied in a murder investigation. That’d be me.”</p><p>“That makes sense, having you both in one place means less chance of multiple attacks if anything goes wrong.” As much as she was participating in the conversation, Kaede’s mind still wasn’t convinced that Shuichi was telling her the actual truth. She couldn’t wrap her head around Kougetsu’s father being a wanted criminal, who’d been so stupid as to let his daughter spend time in the house of a known detective, who now could very well want him dead for his part in solving a murder case. “I’m not looking forward to this,” she told him, feeling knots begin to form from her throat all the way down to the bottom of her stomach. “I’m not sure how I’m going to get through these next weeks with the sessions knowing that one wrong statement could get us killed.”</p><p>“Well, for starters, you’re not saying a word about me and what I do to Kougetsu, and that’s that. Then, you’re going to stay away from that house, unless you want to accidentally end up implicated in case the police raid the place. And finally, and this is a big one…” He trailed off as he gave her the most serious look he could manage, given how terrified he was in that moment. “You’re going to pretend like nothing’s wrong, and give that girl the best few weeks of piano lessons she could ever ask for.”</p><p>“And just how do you expect me to do that, knowing that this is what’s going on?” The words were spilling out of Kaede’s mouth before she could fully think them through, but she felt completely justified in acting on emotions in that moment. “I’m not going to be able to lie to her, I just know I’m not. She’s going to take one look at me and tell that I’m hiding something, and where do I go from there? She’s just a kid, she’s done nothing wrong.”</p><p>“That’s why you have to do this, so that she knows she’s done nothing wrong, and she can get out from under her father’s care. It could very well be life or death for her, just like it is for us, and we need to proceed with caution.” Holding a hand out to take hers in it, Shuichi was given the one that wore the wedding ring he’d given her when they’d gotten married, and he carefully thumbed over it. “I’m not going to lose you over this, Kaede, and that’s final. You’ll be fine doing what I need you to do here, knowing that everything rests on your shoulders at the moment.”</p><p>As much as she wanted to believe him blindly, she knew that she was a fallible person and that trusting her was dangerous. “I’ll try my best,” she decided, “but I can’t guarantee my best will be good enough for you on this.”</p><p>“It’ll have to be, since it’s all we’ve got.”</p><p><em>thirteen</em>.</p><p>Kougetsu didn’t show up for her session later that week, which meant that for days all Kaede could think about was how she was playing with literal fire by continuing to tutor the girl on the piano. The following Tuesday she didn’t show up either, and the idea was there for her to go two houses down and see what was happening, but Shuichi’s dire tone rang through her ears and she couldn’t go against what he’d warned her of. “I need an excuse to go by and see what’s happening over there,” she said to herself, looking out the window at the blustery outdoors, ruling out taking a casual walk because of the windy weather. “But I don’t know if I can come up with one on my own…”</p><p>Her eyes fell to her phone, sitting on the cover of her piano’s keys, which she’d been using up until she’d stepped over to look out the window. Since it was the middle of the day, her choices of who she could call on were slim, and of the people she knew she’d be able to recruit with ease there weren’t many she felt like dealing with in that moment. Maki was bound to be willing to drop whatever she was doing if it meant getting a visual on the criminal she’d been helping track, but asking her would inevitably get Kaito involved, and if Kaito was there then it was a foregone conclusion that Shuichi would find out that she’d been spying on the neighbor who could easily have them all killed.</p><p>Another choice was Miu, who, even though it had been a long while since they’d last spoken, she still harbored angered feelings towards, even though she’d be quite adept at doing a drive-by snooping session. That brought Kaede to thinking about the small robot that she’d given them as a gift back at the baby shower for Aika, and how that would be an unassuming way to see what was happening, but the Baby Keebo unit was being used as a baby monitor in the overnight hours and losing him to a failed spying attempt would put them in a bad spot. From there her mind went to asking Ryoma, because she knew he was free as well, but he was reliable as a babysitter if it was needed and having him come by for something that could get him in legal hot water didn’t seem right.</p><p>The person Kaede ended up messaging, asking for them to come over, was Tenko, who wasn’t really her first choice but was definitely a choice nonetheless. Originally the invitation had been for Tenko and Himiko both, but she’d dropped the second name off before she sent the message due to not wanting to make it seem like it was a fun thing they were coming over for. Tenko’s day job was working in a martial arts building as an instructor, and she’d talked a lot about how her sessions were either mornings or nights, afternoons usually free, and as it was not long after lunch time Kaede felt justified in sending the message then for an immediate arrival.</p><p>She wasn’t expecting Tenko to show up not ten minutes later, dressed in her workout clothes that she’d used to wear to the gym when they’d gone together. “Feels like it’s been a while since I last saw you,” she greeted, coming into the house not even slightly bothered that Kaede wasn’t dressed in anything more than her pajama bottoms and an ill-fitting top. “We’ll be working on that soon enough, though, won’t we?”</p><p>“When I’m living over there, yeah,” Kaede replied, knowing that part of the plan all too well because she’d talked it over and over with Shuichi, running through all of the worst-case scenarios that could crop up with it. “Only a few weeks until then.”</p><p>“Only a few weeks until you find out if that’s a girl or a boy too, am I right?” Gesturing to the reason that Kaede’s shirt was not fitting her correctly, Tenko put on a somewhat freakish expression when she received a nod in return. “It better be a girl, that’s all I’m saying. Sure, you and Shuichi <em>could</em> make a decent boy, but this world doesn’t need more boys the way it’s going. Girls or nothing, that’s what I want to see.”</p><p>“Oh, uh, well, I figured that’s how you’d feel, but…” Knowing that if she said something Tenko didn’t agree with, she could create quite the sticky situation for herself, Kaede thought hard about how to proceed in the gentlest way possible. “We’re just wanting them to be perfectly healthy, whether they’re a boy or a girl. Guess that’s looking at it from a parental perspective, though.”</p><p>“A perspective I won’t have to look through, because if I ever have a child, they’re going to be one I pick out myself.” It was one of the perks of being in a relationship that wouldn’t naturally bear children, and Tenko was rather proud of it. “That way, I’ll be able to raise the strong daughter of my dreams, and Himiko can help too, I suppose.”</p><p>Kaede laughed, thinking about how uninterested Himiko would be in that situation. “Well, I’m sure that if you ever find yourselves in a place where you can take a child in, you’ll be able to raise them exactly like you want to, with or without her help. Although, I’m sure she’d be at least somewhat willing to give it a shot.”</p><p>“Have you seen how many times she hasn’t helped you with Aika when she’s come over here? The chance of Himiko ever being interested enough to help with a kid’s needs is slim to none, but I’m fine with that. I’ll buy a chest carrier and continue working with a kid screaming on me if it means I get to raise one.” Throwing one of her fists into her other hand, Tenko looked to be on the verge of jumping up and down when she realized her voice had gotten quite loud, and she brought it back down. “Speaking of your child, where is she? Down for a nap?”</p><p>“It is that time of day,” Kaede replied with a smile, thinking about how she and Shuichi had been rather lucky with how good Aika had been at following a rough schedule of activity. “I put her down after lunch, and she’s down for an hour or two until she’s ready to get changed and get back to living her life trying to get herself around on the floor.”</p><p>“Is she crawling yet?” Tenko’s eyes were scouting the ground, seeing the baby-proofed living room with its pillow blockades all over. “If she is, that’d be good for us to know to get our place set up for when you’re staying there.”</p><p>Shaking her head, Kaede explained, “No, she’s not crawling, but she definitely can roll and move herself around that way. You set her down one place and turn your back for five seconds, and she’ll be halfway across the room when you look back to where you’d left her. It’s only a matter of time until she starts working on propelling herself around other ways, and we’re excited to see it.”</p><p>“Ah, makes sense, I’ll let Himiko know we should get all of our collectables away from the floor, just to be safe.” Stepping over one of the blockades, Tenko nearly tripped when her foot landed on a corner of one of Aika’s blankets, but she collected herself from the stumble and headed over to the dining room table, where she drew herself a chair and sat on it backwards. “So, Kaede, any reason you called me over here while your degenerate husband isn’t here, or is it just social hour?”</p><p>Also stepping over pillows and carefully avoiding anything she would definitely lose her balance on, Kaede joined her friend at the table, although she chose not to sit as she knew her back would not appreciate the harder chair. “I did have a reason for it, but it’s really silly now that I think about it, and I’m not sure I should—”</p><p>“Tell me it.” Her voice forceful, Tenko clearly meant business in that moment. “It can’t be as silly as half the things Himiko calls me home for.”</p><p>“—I’m supposed to be holding Kougetsu’s lesson right now, and I’m worried her father did something to her to keep her from coming over here.” Cue the confused look from Tenko, as she wasn’t as savvy to the minor details to everything that was going on. “Kougetsu is the daughter of the guy Shuichi thinks is going to kill us for his involvement in investigating the murder he committed. The one who lives two houses from here?”</p><p>“Let me guess, you want me here so I can give the man a piece of my mind, because you’re in no shape to be doing it yourself?”</p><p>“What? No! I want you here to run by there and see if you see anything weird, then come back and tell me about it, but don’t let Shuichi know you did anything in the first place.” Now that she had said it out loud and spoken her plan into existence, Kaede did feel like it was as silly as she’d feared, but Tenko seemed to be ruminating on it, her whole face contorting as she weighed the pros and cons of doing it. “But I’m fine if you choose not to, I’ll be cool with just talking with you for a while.”</p><p>It was too late, now that the idea had been implanted in Tenko’s mind. “I could use a quick jog,” she said, kicking her legs out around the back of the chair, letting them flex and relax to show off her toned muscles. “Just point me in the right direction and I’ll do a loop around the block to not raise suspicion, and don’t worry, the secret will stay safe with me.”</p><p>“I suppose if you’ve got an idea for how you wouldn’t make it super obvious you’re doing this to see what’s going on there, you can do it. Then you’ll come back and let me know what you see, if there’s anything at all, and we can pretend that we didn’t do any of this whenever Shuichi gets home and asks us about what’s going on.” The two high-fived once the final details were set in stone, and soon enough Tenko was out the door to run her lap around the block, Kaede standing in the doorway to watch for her return as well as listen for Aika in case that was the moment she decided to wake up.</p><p>She could only see as far as the end of the street, and when Tenko made the turn to go around the block, that was her cue to come back inside and away from the wintery air outdoors. The door was left unlocked as she went to her piano and began practicing playing, using the time she would’ve been playing with a student to refine one of her note transitions she’d written for the new baby’s personal song. So, when the door opened again minutes later, she was fully expecting to turn around and see Tenko having come back, but she was surprised to hear, “Er, Kaede, why’s the front door unlocked?” coming from Shuichi’s voice.</p><p>“You scared me!” she gasped in reply, her playing ceasing as she frantically turned to see her husband standing there, his eyebrows raised at her behavior. “I mean, uh, it’s unlocked because I’m waiting for Tenko to get back in here. What are you doing home?”</p><p>“The cases I’m working on are all at standstills currently, and since I’m getting paid either way I decided I’d come home and spend the time with you. Why’s Tenko here?” Realizing too late that inviting her friend over in the first place was a bad idea, Kaede wanted to come up with a good reason for why she’d done it but was struggling to come up with anything that masked the truth.</p><p>Thankfully, Tenko showed up not a moment later, and completely ruined any sort of attempt at being secretive Kaede had been trying to make. “The whole place looks to be empty,” she announced as she was coming in the door, not noticing that Shuichi was there until she’d already spoken. “I mean, wow, it sure is cold out there, I wish I hadn’t decided I needed to take a run as soon as I got over here.”</p><p>“Were you spying on the neighbors for Kaede, by chance?” Shuichi asked her, his look of confusion quickly transforming into one of disappointment. “Because if you were, why are you willingly endangering yourself for that?”</p><p>“Look, she did it because I’m worried about Kougetsu, let’s just leave it at that and call it over. No one was there, apparently, so it’s not like she was causing any trouble for herself, or for us.” Kaede forced a smile and hoped that the others would do the same, and even though Tenko seemed to be ready to support exactly what she said, Shuichi was not having it.</p><p>He sighed, pushing the front of his hair up off his forehead as he stood there, looking right at Kaede. “You shouldn’t have dragged her into this, whatever’s going on over there isn’t anything we need to be physically worrying ourselves with. That man could have us all killed in a split second if he wanted, we can’t risk playing his game if we want to live.”</p><p>“I know, you keep telling me all about how dangerous it is to keep interacting with them, but it’s hard when I actually care about that girl!” Swinging her legs around the bench so that she could stand up, Kaede met Shuichi face-to-face, her eyes beginning to brim with tears over how passionate she was in the moment. “I just keep thinking about how she deserves to be cared for and loved, and that we’ve always known that her father wasn’t caring about her, but now we know why and it’s like…why didn’t we do anything sooner?”</p><p>“You’re getting too personally invested in this,” he replied, dodging her question completely and turning away from her to look at Tenko, who scowled at him. “And you, you’ve got to not let Kaede talk you into doing things for her about this. You’ve got to keep your head about you and not let a pregnant woman recruit you to do her bidding.”</p><p>“Excuse me? Is that what this is going to turn into?” Those tears beginning to fall from her lashes as she blinked, Kaede couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so upset at Shuichi for something he’d done. “I’d have done it myself if I hadn’t known you’d never forgive me if I did, and I did let Tenko know that it was a silly idea when I told her it. You can’t accuse her of doing my bidding when she chose to do it.” There was a pause, as he turned back to look at her, after which she yelled, “And you know what? Me being pregnant with <em>your</em> child has nothing to do with me not doing it! I didn’t do it myself because I respect your word!”</p><p>He stared at her for a moment, trying to formulate some sort of coherent thought, but Tenko beat him to speaking. “I’ll back her up on that, she didn’t even tell me I had to do it, it was just a suggestion and I listened. There’s no need to go on a power trip right now—”</p><p>“This conversation has nothing to do with you,” Shuichi interrupted, only to realize his mistake and cover his mouth in shock at what he’d done. Tenko’s jaw dropped slightly as she found herself reeling from the disrespect, and Kaede wished she could escape the argument she’d caused with her own well-intentioned actions before all eyes were back on her. Her salvation came in the form of a highly-displeased Aika screaming for attention from her crib, and even though she knew evading conversation was not the best course of action, she put her child’s needs over her own and went to go tend to her without a word.</p><p>While she was gone, she could hear the two in the living room resume their conversation, Tenko wanting nothing to do with what Shuichi had to say and him wanting nothing but for Tenko to get out of his house. “You’re unlucky to have such a stupid mother,” Kaede said to Aika, as she was in the middle of changing her. “If it wasn’t for me caring so much about someone else, none of this would be happening right now.” Predictably, the only response she got was a couple babbles and some spit bubbles from the quickly-contented girl, but it was enough to make her choke out a laugh. “That’s right, you have such a way with words, Aika. Maybe you’ll grow up to be a speaker someday.”</p><p>Once she was clean and ready to go, she hoisted Aika up onto her hip, having to fight to adjust how she held her so that there wasn’t a tiny leg pressed awkwardly against the growing curve of her stomach, and once that was settled together they went back out to the living room, where neither of the people who’d been there before remained. Panic began to overtake Kaede as she looked outside to find that, where two vehicles would have been in the moments after Shuichi got home, there was nothing at all. “Oh geez, what have I done this time?” she asked herself, bouncing Aika up a bit to keep her from slipping out of her grasp. “It’s not like your father to disappear without telling me what’s going on. I really screwed this one up…”</p><p>He wasn’t back until the darkness of evening had began to fall on the house, but with having given no warning as to where he was going and why he was going there, all Kaede had been able to do in his absence was pace around, occasionally stopping to play with Aika as the girl sat against the couch to practice with holding herself up. When he came in the door, the first thing she noticed was that he was holding a bouquet of bright roses, accompanied by a gift bag that he was keeping closed. “I drove around for a while to clear my head, ended up back at the office just to see if I could get any information on why their house is empty, then went to the store to get an apology gift,” he explained, offering her the things he’d brought with. “I know this won’t take back what I said, but it’s all I have.”</p><p>“You should have thought about how it would come off before you said it,” she replied, taking the flowers first and setting them on the cushion beside her as Aika continued to play on the floor between her legs. “I felt hurt that you didn’t understand how I’d want what’s best for a child, no matter the consequences. Wouldn’t you want what’s best for our children, at any given time?”</p><p>“Well, yes,” he admitted, pushing the bag closer to her hands, “but neither of us are know drug peddlers who killed a man in broad daylight. There’s a bit of a difference that you didn’t have in mind when you sent Tenko out there.”</p><p>She eyed the bag, wanting to know what was inside of it but also not wanting to take it if Shuichi was going to continue accusing her of something she didn’t do. “Tenko is a grown woman, she made the choice to go out and check on the house on her own. I didn’t because I knew you would hate it if I did, and it was too cold for me to go anyway.”</p><p>“Trust me, while you were calming Aika down all Tenko insisted was that it was her idea, and that I’m too dumb to understand that she could make those decisions herself. I’m very familiar with how she chose to do it for you, not because you told her to.” Once again he nudged the bag closer to her hands, and after some time she reluctantly took it, carefully prying it open to find several gifts she never would have expected. As she pulled the things out, one by one, he justified the purchase with, “I’ve been so wrapped up in this case, as well as everything we need to get done to get this house renovated, that I’ve forgotten all about treating the love of my life the way she deserves.”</p><p>“And all it took was you accusing me of weaponizing being pregnant to get you to realize that, huh?” she asked, holding up the book of piano music that seemed to be the centerpiece of the gift, although the fancy chocolates and the new novelty shirt were impressive as well. “I’ll accept it this time, but, uh, Shuichi? Let’s not start acting like that again, you know I’m headstrong and that when I’m determined I’m not going to let it go, you can’t try to change me just because you’re scared for my safety.”</p><p>“I know,” he said, crouching down to give her a proper kiss on the lips, a gesture she was momentarily stunned by until she returned the favor for a few seconds. “I’m going to work on not being so focused on everything else going on in this world, if it means getting to focus more on the people I love most.”</p><p>They kissed again, and again, and most certainly would have kept going if Aika hadn’t reminded them of her presence with a loud screech, followed by digging her sharp nails into the exposed part of her father’s leg. To combat that, he fully bent down and picked her up, planting several kisses on her rosy cheeks, as she grabbed at his hair and reached over to try grabbing her mother’s as well. Things in their lives might not have been going the best way that they could, but moments like that where they remembered they had each other were what made life worth living.</p><p>To their surprise, later that night, a knock came at the door while Shuichi was sitting with Aika in his arms as Kaede played them both some songs from her new music collection; after deciding that she’d be the one to see who it was, she was greeted with the sight of Kougetsu at the door with a card in her hand. “Daddy doesn’t want me getting lessons for free anymore,” she said, passing the card to Kaede as she spoke, “but he wanted to pay you for your time and all that. I’m gonna miss being over here to play, Mrs. Saihara, but Daddy says when he can afford it, he’s gonna pay you big time to teach me how to be the next Chopin.”</p><p>“I’m amused that you know who Chopin is, and tell him that I look forward to when that day comes,” she replied, barely getting the words out before Kougetsu was walking away from the house, solemnly waving behind her every few steps. Closing the door, Kaede started to open the card as she walked back to her piano bench, Shuichi giving her a curious look as she did. “I think one of the problems you’ve been struggling with just solved itself,” she told him, before explaining word-for-word what had just happened.</p><p>That came to a standstill when she finally read what the card said, and they both realized that solving one problem was only going to lead to others. “This check’s written by a drug dealer, we can’t take this money,” Shuichi said, after she’d shown him the amount that they’d just been given by a ten-year-old in the middle of the night. “But not cashing it means he’ll know we suspect he’s up to no good. Damn it, Kaede, this might actually be worse than it’d been before!”</p><p>Her head slowly nodding, she understood the situation they’d gotten themselves into, but she didn’t know what she could say to let him know she was following him. How could her kindness have been used against her and her family, a fatal bullet delivered to them via the hands of an innocent child? “I’d take it to work and see if they have any ideas,” she finally decided to say. “Or, specifically, I’m sure Kyoko would have some suggestions.”</p><p>“You’re right, but…” His voice trailed off as he looked at the amount of money again. “I don’t see this ending well for us, Kaede. We’re in just about the worst place we could’ve gotten into with all of this, and getting out might be easier said than done.”</p><p><em>fourteen</em>.</p><p>Christmas shopping that year had been quite interesting, given that they were trying to dodge anyone who might be connected back to the man who’d given them a hefty check as a gift (one that had been turned over to the police as part of the investigation, even though Shuichi was not fully on-board with them taking it from him). But they were shopping in places that it seemed safe in the first place, so the glances they made over their shoulders when they’d be walking through stores were few and far between. There was something invigorating about going out shopping for a child’s first Christmas, and even though they didn’t have all the money in the world to spend on things, they were fully intending to make the holiday as great as they could for Aika, before they had to move house temporarily.</p><p>It wasn’t just Aika that needed gifts, though, and for the week leading up to Christmas they’d been sneaking in and out of the house as much as they could without the other going with to get presents. Shuichi had a much easier time of doing it, being able to leave early for work or come home late but have actually gone to the store in that extra time, and Kaede wasn’t exactly eager to go out earlier than he was, or later than he’d been getting home. “It’s too cold and I’m not exactly a fan of driving by myself at night,” she explained, justifying why she’d chosen a different route when it came to getting the perfect gifts for the man she loved that year.</p><p>A couple times she convinced Ryoma to come over and watch Aika for her while she went out and did her shopping, but when she’d consistently come home empty-handed from the shops nearby, he suggested that she try something else. “I can’t say it’ll be a pleasant experience this close to the holiday, but the shopping center has a cat café I can sit at with Aika so that you have a ride over there and you can do your shopping without her.”</p><p>“You know, I hadn’t thought about that,” she said after choosing not to call him out for wanting to go to a cat café, of all the places in the world. “It would probably help if I knew what I was looking for with Shuichi, though. He’s so difficult to shop for! Crime novels and documentaries don’t feel like appropriate gifts.”</p><p>“Well, the offer’s out there if you want it.” Shrugging off her hesitance, Ryoma gave Aika a half-smile, the girl having no idea why he was doing that but babbling like she was accepting it wholeheartedly. “I’m not going to complain about spending more time with her.”</p><p>The offer was one that Kaede sat on for days, as she struggled to come up with solid gift ideas and any further time she went out looking she still couldn’t decide what it was she was looking for. She knew that Shuichi had already gotten her everything he intended to get, based on how he warned her not to look under the bed, and no amount of teasing him that she couldn’t do that easily and that if he didn’t want her to, he needed to give her a suggestion of what he wanted, was able to get him to crack. Eventually, it was Christmas Eve and she was still gift-less, and her husband was pulling a late shift to tie up as many loose ends on cases before the office was closed the following day, so despite knowing that going out then would be hellish, she called Ryoma and asked him for his assistance, just one more time before the dust settled on the holiday.</p><p>He came over as fast as he could, not doing much with his time aside from community service and the occasional odd job, and he graciously drove Kaede and Aika over to the shopping center closer to the center of town, which had always been a bit too far for Kaede to sneak off to on her own with public transit. They parted ways outside of the cat café that Ryoma had spoken so highly of, him assuring her that he’d be fine with sitting there all day if he had to, and that he could take care of Aika for as long as he needed. She grimaced, looking at her baby being held in her car seat by the much smaller man, not worried at all about his competence but rather his patience with an inevitably fussing child.</p><p>“And if she starts screaming too much, please just call me and I’ll be back in a heartbeat,” she said, blowing Aika a kiss before turning away, Ryoma having done the same without answering at all. As she headed off towards the first store she saw, a bookstore much larger than any others she’d visited recently, she couldn’t help but keep thinking about all of the things that could go wrong with the current arrangement. The chances of Aika losing her cool and causing a scene were too great, but Ryoma had been so insistent that he could handle it that Kaede knew she should have just believed him.</p><p>Stepping into the bookstore that afternoon was much like walking into a water park on the hottest, driest day of the year; people were queued everywhere and it seemed that all the shelves had been picked clean hours before. She felt lucky enough to get back to the crime section and find a couple of untouched audiobooks about cases that she’d never heard of before, and hoping that Shuichi would find them entertaining she grabbed them and headed to the children’s section, to find some books for Aika to enjoy. There was little in the way of touch and feel books but she was able to grab some about colors and animals, and since she’d recently gotten a new book for herself she felt like that was enough to call that store over and done with.</p><p>Nearly an hour of waiting in a never-ending line later and she was out the door, having bought some things but not enough to make her feel satisfied in her gift that year. “I’m going to cry if I have to wait that long again,” she mumbled as she walked inside the next store, a men’s casual clothing shop that she’d heard Shuichi talk about wanting to get some clothes for work from. Everything there was a bit more expensive than she would have liked, but she found some dark suit jackets and matching pants that were marked down for being out of style, and after looking at them and imagining him wearing them home from the office, she grabbed several pairs and paid for them without a tinge of regret. If he found out how much she’d paid, he would certainly be a bit annoyed, but the quality of the clothing was top-notch according to everyone’s reviews of the shop, and if it was for work, looking his best was very important.</p><p>As she was leaving that store with all of her purchases in hand, Kaede knew that she should have paced herself and gone back to meet with Ryoma once more, but a store dedicated to strange knickknacks caught her attention and she headed down to check it out. If it hadn’t been for the crystal ball in its front window, glistening and glimmering in the light, she never would have noticed it was there, and by the time she was standing outside of it she saw that it was going to be a dangerous place for her to step inside. Not because of anything specifically in there, but because the aisles between the different shelves were rather skinny, and she was carrying two modest-sized bags as well as being eighteen-ish weeks pregnant. She weighed the options she had, either going inside and potentially breaking something, or skipping out and coming to visit again some other time, and chose the latter just because she knew that she could convince at least one friend to check it out with her.</p><p>That wasn’t the end of her shopping experience, however, as ending up in front of that store opened up the possibilities of going into others nearby, and soon enough it was another two hours later and she’d tripled the number of bags she was carrying around. Her limit to the day was fast approaching and she knew it, so after buying a few cute outfits for Aika to grow into in the coming months from the cutest children’s clothing store there, she started the walk back over to the café, where she expected to see nothing but chaos and horror.<br/>What she was met with was a completely content, although covered in fur, baby, which came as a complete and pleasant surprise. “Three different cats climbed on her and decided they wanted to nap with her,” Ryoma explained, brushing cat fur off of himself as well. “Then when she’d start getting rough with petting, they’d crawl onto me. Best experience I’ve ever had at one of these places, all thanks to her.”</p><p>“Wow, I had no idea that Aika would be so good for sitting with at a cat café,” Kaede remarked, staring at her daughter, who was staring right back at her with a silent expression. “I’ll have to keep that in mind for the future. You’ll bring her again, won’t you?”</p><p>“Sure, I’ll need to come back to this one anyway. Their drink machine was down so I couldn’t get anything but water while sitting there, and they claim to have drinks that match the cats’ personalities.” He chuckled, such a gruff sound coming from such a small man, and it was enough to get Kaede to let out a few giggles as well. “Point is, you always act like me watching Aika’s a burden on me, when it’s really not. Gets me out of my mundane life for a few hours, gets her into someone else’s arms, lets you have a little bit of your own time.”</p><p>“It’s just weird for someone else to be so eager to watch Aika for us, but we really do appreciate knowing we can call on you to help us out.” Bowing her head, Kaede hoped her genuine thanks were coming across clear, and when Ryoma pulled his beanie down over his forehead just a tad she knew she’d gotten her message through to him. They talked more about their time at the café on the ride home, and Ryoma was kind enough to help her get all of the presents inside before he headed out, claiming he needed to go get some work done before everything closed for the next few days.</p><p>Once he was gone, and Kaede was left with an Aika who wanted all the attention she could get from her mother, as well as a pile of presents that needed to be wrapped and set up for the exchange the next day, she sighed and smiled to herself, picking up her baby and carrying her around the house. “We’re so lucky that, even though things are nothing but crazy around here, we still have such amazing people who care about all of us,” she told the girl, who wasn’t actually listening but wasn’t crying, so that was a positive moment. “And thanks to Ryoma’s kindness, we’re going to have such a great day tomorrow. I’m excited to see you with all of your gifts we’ve bought you, you’ll be surrounded with all sorts of new things for you to play with and wear!”</p><p>She carried her over to the dining room table, on top of which the collection of already-wrapped gifts had been piled, as that was where their small tree for the year was sitting. It had been her idea to have the tree on the table, to keep a rolling baby out from underneath it, and somehow piling the presents there had been the logical conclusion, even though Kaede knew that what she was seeing there was nowhere close to the full extent of the gifts they’d collected. There were a few larger ones sitting in their bedroom, to be moved out the next morning, and then the ones under the bed and the new ones sitting on the living room couch. “I’ve got so much wrapping I need to do if we’re going to make this feel like a real Christmas,” she realized, hoisting Aika onto her other hip as the weight-bearing arm had grown tired. “You better either nap or play quietly on your blanket while I do that, or else your dad’s going to know what he’s getting and it’s going to be all your fault.”</p><p>She was met with the traditional blank stare from Aika’s light eyes, followed by a single spit bubble that popped only when the girl opened her mouth and showed off her sparse collection of teeth. “Yeah, I expected as much from you. Come on, let’s get you on that blanket with your toys and see how much I can get done before he gets home.”</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tw: death</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>fifteen</em>.</p><p>Christmas morning the family awoke to the sight of a light dusting of snow outside their windows, and the ever-present sound of an unhappy child to remind them that nothing nice could happen without something there to ruin it. While Kaede took care of whatever it was that Aika needed in that moment, Shuichi finished putting out all of the presents they’d gotten and set them around the tree so that when the time came, they’d be within reach of wherever they ended up sitting down at. He was not expecting to see Kaede bring Aika out of her room wearing a holiday-themed onesie that pointed out that it was her first Christmas, especially so early in the day when there was plenty of time for it to get dirtied or downright ruined.</p><p>“It just felt right to put her in it now,” Kaede defended, trying not to look too eagerly at the stacks of gifts she knew she was going to be unwrapping for the person there who couldn’t do it herself. “And besides, if she gets it dirty, it’s not like we don’t have others she can wear. Somehow we ended up with, like, three of these.”</p><p>“That’s interesting,” he replied, opening his arms so that he could take hold of Aika for a while. “Good to know we have some backups, though, because knowing how things tend to go, we’re going to need them.”</p><p>Opening the gifts was a fun experience that they both made sure they could take part in, as Aika had no idea what was going on around her and she was just enjoying the time spent being passed back and forth between her parents as they mimed unwrapping presents with her small hands. She laughed and smiled when a toy would be opened and it would play a little tune at her, and she was fond of being handed soft, stuffed animals that would be stored in her room until she was ready to play with them, but overall her interest in the gift-giving was limited to whatever her parents pushed at her. Still, her facial expressions at times were worthy of being framed, and part of why they’d decided to keep switching who was holding her was so that they both could get in on the pictures being taken of the moment.</p><p>Once all of her presents had been taken care of, they stopped opening gifts for a little bit, letting the mess get cleared away and organized while she got to slobber all over some of her new blankets and toys. “Whoever got her that fuzzy blanket there has got to be thanked a million times over for it,” Kaede said, looking over the stack of now-emptied toy boxes to watch the girl rolling herself up in the blanket with part of it in her mouth. “Any idea who that was, because that sure wasn’t me.”</p><p>“Not me either,” Shuichi replied, glancing towards a list of gift-givers he’d written down as they’d been opening things. “My money would be on my uncle, but there’s some other possibilities here. Definitely not Miu, we—”</p><p>“Know what her gift was? Yup, no need to dwell on that.” They exchanged a glance that ended with them both trying their hardest not to laugh at what had been said, as they’d both been a bit surprised to have a gift addressed to one Aika Saihara with a from label courtesy of “the gorgeous woman genius inventor” herself. It hadn’t been remotely surprising that Miu’s gift had been a book on robotics aimed at small children, quite above what they’d be reading to Aika but something that she could possibly find interesting in the future. The part that required no dwelling was the card that had been tucked inside its front cover, meant for the adults of the house, calling them both out for their inadequacies in life but making sure they knew that their daughter was cute.</p><p>“Okay, but it was either my uncle, or Kyoko and Makoto, or possibly Rantaro? I don’t recall what his gift was, but that could’ve been it.” His eyes shifting back and forth as he thought, Shuichi shook his head and immediately removed one of his suggestions. “No, it wasn’t Kyoko, her gift was the clothing we have to save for next summer, because I remember her note apologizing for it all being too big.”</p><p>Kaede nodded, recalling that note and finding it hard to see a reason for an apology to be made. “Then, as much as I think your uncle would’ve done something that kind, I’m placing my bet on Rantaro for this. I hope he comes back soon, I could use another nail-painting day with just me and him.”</p><p>“That’s the last time you had your nails done, wasn’t it? Perhaps you’d like to do that again sometime?” The memory of walking into the house and finding Rantaro sitting with Kaede on the floor doing her nails was not one that would ever quite leave Shuichi’s mind, and when he saw her laugh off his question he knew that she was dodging answering because her answer would be that she would only do it if Rantaro was there. “Anyway, it does seem likely that he’d buy something so general and safe on an occasion like this.”</p><p>“Because he knew that she’d love it, even if it wasn’t something unique and special.” Going back to watching Aika as she’d successfully cocooned herself in the blankets, and pushed herself up against the wall while doing so, Kaede sighed contently, finding peace in her daughter’s joy with the simple things in life. “What a kind guy, I’m so glad that we know him, even if he’s never around.”</p><p>“He’s better than a lot of the people that are,” Shuichi agreed, before clarifying, “I’m speaking mostly of Miu with that, but there’s some others I’d dare to say fall under that banner. Not anyone we actually care about, though.”</p><p>“Good, because if you were talking about any of our friends I’d want you to tell them that to their faces. Especially Tenko or Maki, or even Kaito.” Just mentioning his best friend made Shuichi squirm, and Kaede loved knowing that he was slightly terrified of what sorts of off-the-wall things Kaito would do if he was told he wasn’t as great as someone whose life was spent traveling parts of the world. “But seriously, we’ll have to find a way to thank him, and I hope that means him being here in person to do it.”</p><p>“We’ve got a lot of people to thank,” he pointed out, referring to his list, “and that’s just for the gifts that Aika got. Who knows what there is that we got from others that aren’t ourselves.” He raised a good point, and with how content Aika was in the moment it seemed safe for them to start opening their own gifts, going one at a time just in case they needed to pause to fix anything going wrong with the playing child.</p><p>Shuichi was surprised to see the gifts that Kaede had bought him, the clothing more than the audiobooks, although he claimed to treasure both equally, and she found herself having quite the shock when she opened a box that contained a fancy necklace with a clear heart as its charm, inside of it existing three smaller charms. “Is this one that I can customize however I want?” she asked, to which he nodded. “And we’re going to add to it once the baby’s here and they have a name and all that?” Another nod. “That’s really sweet of you, Shuichi, thank you so much.”</p><p>“It seemed fitting for the occasion, this being Aika’s first Christmas and our first, and only, holiday spent with just the three of us. Next year you can wear it and have charms for us and both children, and everything will be right.” He shyly smiled at her and she returned the favor, unclasping the necklace from its box and trying to put it around her neck, but the combination of fingers raw from gift-opening and her hair in the way prevented her from being able to fasten it. He was willing to help her when he saw her begin to struggle, and once it was around her throat with the charms with all three of their names jangling around inside, they went back to opening gifts.</p><p>For the most part, what they received was practical things, either tools that people insisted would help them in the coming months as they prepared for their second child, or money that they could spend however they liked. There were a fair number of quirky shirts in the gifts Kaede opened, some of which she’d wished she could wear right then and others of which she wasn’t sure she’d ever wear. There was one that was clearly bought from some store that tried advertising based on perceived interests, and she knew without having to check the gift tag that it was from Kaito, but it had her laughing so hard she had to excuse herself twice to control herself. “I can’t believe he thought this was a good idea,” she snorted after returning to seeing the shirt after her second time stepping away. “It’s not even accurate to me!”</p><p>“It’s one of those weird things that I’m sure Kaito thought you’d enjoy, which clearly you have,” he replied, looking at the shirt upside down as Kaede laid it out over her legs to get a full look at it. “It at least mentions being born in March and playing the piano, and being a girl mom, but the combination of it all seems rather strange.”</p><p>“And does he really think I’m going to go out wearing a shirt that tells everyone when I was born, what my hobbies are, that I have a daughter, and that I’m a completely controlling ‘witch’ when it comes to my marriage?” Her laughter was barely contained as she was sitting there, staring down at that shirt with tears rolling down her cheeks. “I think he saw what it does get right and thought all of it would be okay, which is typical Kaito, now that I think about it.”</p><p>Seeing her trying not to have to excuse herself again, Shuichi attempted to steer the conversation elsewhere by grabbing the shirt, but Kaede was quick to pull it right back onto her lap. “I’m looking forward to see what he got me, but we can’t find that out until you’re ready to move on.”</p><p>“Just…give me a few minutes,” she conceded, letting go of the shirt and getting herself back to her feet, to go try calming down somewhere that she could muffle her laughs and guffaws if she needed to. When she came back yet again, she was still red in the face and her eyes were clearly still wet, but she wasn’t laughing beyond a couple chuckles here and there and that allowed for them to move on. That shirt was the highlight of their strange and silly gifts, but it was far from the only one that had them scratching their heads (like the gift card to a local restaurant neither of them had been to, from an unmarked card that merely said they deserved a night out, or the set of decorative dish towels with frogs all over them). Shuichi’s gift he got from Kaito was tame compared to the one Kaede had gotten, but it was still definitely ordered from somewhere that was trying to understand the person it was being purchased for, although as a calendar with fun facts about detectives it had more of a use than that shirt ever would.</p><p>The gifts were soon all opened, both of them coming away from the event with quite a few things that they were happy about, but none were as memorable as the necklace or the shirt, and those were two things that Kaede would not let herself forget about for any reason at all. She would absentmindedly reach up and begin to play with the heart on the necklace, hearing the charms inside clanging around against each other, and she did on several occasions pull out her phone to see what it looked like around her neck, making out the mirrored images of her name, Shuichi’s name, and Aika’s name, all in a light pink font on their respective charms. “I still can’t believe you thought to get me this,” she admitted, in total awe of the kind gesture. “It’s such a beautiful gift.”</p><p>“A beautiful gift for a beautiful woman,” he told her, feeling rather cheesy for having said such a thing and having actually meant it. “I know it’s not the most extravagant thing, but you’re not one for total extravagance and I wanted to do something that would matter for longer than just a few days like some of these gifts will.”</p><p>“I’ll cherish it forever,” she promised him, her eyes shining as she looked at him and his gentle smile. “And that’s something I mean, forever and always. This will be something that I hold onto until the day I die, just like my wedding ring and my piano.”</p><p>“Three very different, very special, very expensive things to want to keep forever.” Twisting his own ring to remind her that he felt the same way about his, even though it was a simple band compared to hers, Shuichi could feel the romantic vibes that Kaede was trying to give off to him, but he kept glancing to wherever Aika was in the moment to remind himself that he couldn’t give in to their desires when they had a child to be watching. “We’ll make sure that all three manage to last as long as possible.”</p><p>She nodded, before bringing up a nagging thought she’d been having off and on for some time. “I’m worried about my piano when we do this whole ‘home renovation’ thing we’re planning,” she said, her eyes still trying to lock with Shuichi’s even though he was looking towards Aika. “What if the people in charge of building the new rooms damage it? What if some dust and dirt gets its way in between the keys and they don’t play the same? What if I come back to see the new layout and someone’s stolen it?”</p><p>“Kaede, please don’t jump to any possibilities like that and stress yourself out over things, it will all be fine in the end, and that includes your piano.” The unspoken addition was that it included their lives as well, because of the precautions they were taking regarding the whole investigation of the neighbors, but he knew that bringing that up on Christmas was most likely a bad idea.</p><p>Unfortunately for him, someone else had taken over his plan for their safety and modified it to fit their own schedule, and that meant that right around when they were sitting down for a lovely meal that they’d cooked together, there was a loud, thundering knock at the front door. Confused as to who it could be, Kaede went to answer it, but she was stopped by Shuichi motioning for her to get back in her seat so that he could take the hypothetical bullet if one was to be fired in their direction. He watched her pout, then decide he was right, and so he was able to make it to the door uncontested, looking through one of its glass panes to see that Tenko was waiting on the other side, looking a bit frigid given that it was the coldest day of the year they’d had thus far.</p><p>When he opened it, she pushed her way inside without any explanation, and he turned to watch her walk into the living room, only to turn back towards the outside to see several others walking up to the door. “What’s with the surprised look there?” Maki asked him, her breath heavy in the air as she spoke. “Not expecting us?”</p><p>“I wasn’t aware anyone was coming over today,” he replied, seeing Kaito deciding to pass by his wife so that he could get inside the house as well, knocking his shoulder into Shuichi’s as he entered. “What changed with the plans we’d drafted?”</p><p>“Rumblings in the underworld, you know how it is.” Adjusting her earmuffs so that they covered her exposed skin just a bit more, Maki gave a silent nod behind her. “We’ve got a couple others here to help with packing and moving everything you’re going to need, since coming back here might not be safe for a while.”</p><p>“On Christmas?”</p><p>“Would you rather die tonight because you stayed here just to finish the night of the holiday together?” Her tone was serious, giving a warning that felt too dire to be real, but Shuichi knew that if anyone was to be believed on the matters at hand, Maki was that person. “Come on, let’s get inside and start getting things sorted, so that when—”</p><p>She was cut off by the sound of loud footsteps echoing in the still air behind her, and she and Shuichi both looked to see an overwhelmingly tall man approaching. “Ah! Good evening, Maki and Shuichi!” Gonta greeted with a smile, his arms bare despite the cold weather. “It is an honor to be here to help with moving tonight!”</p><p>His eyebrows raising as he saw Maki’s face contort into a frozen smile, Shuichi wanted to ask her why she’d invited Gonta to help in the first place, but he decided against it when he was wrapped up in a warm hug by the giant man. “It’s good to have you here,” he eked out, barely able to breathe while held in such a strong embrace. “You’ll do great for moving the stuff we’ll need for Aika while we can’t be here.”</p><p>“The little butterfly! Gonta is beyond excited to get to see her having grown up!” Letting his grasp go entirely, Gonta headed inside the house, leaving the other two outside again, Shuichi mouthing the name he’d just heard for his daughter to Maki, who shrugged at it. They followed his lead and went inside as well, only to hear Tenko barking out orders while Kaede insisted that she should at least be allowed to eat her dinner before she had to do any physical labor, and it was in that moment that everyone present knew that the evening was going to be an eventful one.</p><p>
  <em>sixteen.</em>
</p><p>Initially refusing to work until she got to eat, Kaede quickly decided to change her requirements to Shuichi being able to eat as well, which presented a problem as if neither of them were helping, the rest wouldn’t have a solid idea as to what they needed to do to get things ready for their temporary move and separation. To try and get around this problem, Tenko decided she would continue badgering the couple even as they sat down and were eating, asking them for any sort of direction they could give, and she would have done it until they were finished if Maki hadn’t grabbed her and dragged her outside for a quick talking-to before they proceeded any further.</p><p>As annoying as it was, it was at least showing that Tenko wanted to help them out as much as she could, which was reassuring, given that her better half hadn’t shown up. “Oh, yeah, Himiko said this would be too much work to do and she’d just meet us when we get back,” she explained after being asked about where Himiko was. “I didn’t fight it because I knew dragging her here would just have her as useful as, say, Aika is going to be, but I also know she should’ve come anyway.”</p><p>“It is okay that Himiko isn’t here,” Gonta assured her, having picked Aika up at some point and holding her in one of his giant hands with little in the way of support with anything else. “We only have use for one small creature, and the not-so-little butterfly can fill that role tonight.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure he’s smitten with Aika,” Kaede whispered to Shuichi, her eyes glued to exactly where her daughter was and how she was being held. “And he keeps calling her a butterfly, which is adorable but that’s not her name. She’s just got a lot of butterfly stuff, but she’s our love song, not a butterfly.”</p><p>“We’re not going to fight with him on it, the last thing we need is him thinking we don’t appreciate his kindness,” Shuichi shot back, before sitting taller in his chair to address everyone else that wasn’t Kaede. “I think we’re about ready to start getting to work on all of what needs to be done so we can stay away from this house during its renovation. Who wants to help with Aika’s things, and who wants to help with splitting ours?”</p><p>To no one’s surprise at all, Gonta volunteered himself for organizing things from the girl’s room, and to keep an eye on him Kaede decided she’d stick herself in there (under the guise of being the one who’d know best about what she’d need to keep taking care of her while they were gone). As Shuichi figured out how to delegate the other three into different roles, Gonta and Kaede went into Aika’s tiny room, the room seeming even smaller when there was someone so large in it. “I’ll gladly take her off of you, er, hand if you need it to start moving things,” Kaede offered, still not fully comfortable with how Gonta preferred to hold Aika. “It might be rather tricky for you to do anything while holding her.”</p><p>“Ah, that is true! And someone like yourself should not be doing the heavy lifting and moving.” His face erupting into a smile as he passed Aika back to her mother’s waiting arms, Gonta immediately reached for the crib and found that it would roll if the wheels were not locked in place. “Gonta can just carry this out to the truck, it will be no problem.”</p><p>“Or you can unlock the wheels and steer it out.” Kaede’s suggestion fell on deaf ears as she watched him lift the crib and carry it out of the doorway without much in the way of a struggle, and she rolled her eyes and took a seat in the rocking chair that was set up in the corner of the room. “Whatever, if you don’t want to listen to me and make more work for yourself, you can be my guest. Aika and I aren’t wasting our time doing more than we need to, isn’t that right?”</p><p>The girl, not knowing what was going on other than that her mother was saying something of some sort, gave a happy babble, and she sat content with her mother until Gonta came back, looking just as warm as he had when he’d left. “What goes next?” he asked, looking around the room. “Toys? Clothes? The chair?”</p><p>“Clothes, definitely.” The reply came about as quickly as she could, as Kaede thought about how she wouldn’t have access to all of her clothing while she was staying at Tenko and Himiko’s place, so she wouldn’t want Aika to have the same sort of struggle. “It’s important that I have as many of her clothes as I can, so that she never runs out of clean things to wear while we’re not here.”</p><p>“Gonta can take care of that.” With a nod and a grunt, Gonta managed to hoist the entire dresser up with relative ease, only struggling to position himself to carry it through the doorway, and as he left Kaede was shaking her head, confused about why he was doing all this heavy lifting when there were ways he could have made it so much easier on himself. It was something she considered suggesting when he came back, but he had other plans. “May Gonta please hold the small butterfly again?” he asked upon his return, giving longing eyes towards the girl. “Spending time with her makes things happy for just a little while.”</p><p>“Er, I suppose you can.” The concession was not an easy one, but Kaede had just witnessed the man carry out two heavy pieces of furniture without breaking a sweat, so she figured he deserved a little something for the acts. After letting him scoop her up and watching as he cradled her in the crook of one arm, something she hadn’t been able to do since she’d been a newborn, she felt she couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Gonta, I have something to ask you,” she started, before finishing without waiting for a response. “Why do you keep calling her a butterfly? She’s cute, sure, but that’s not her nickname…”</p><p>“Oh, is it a problem? It just seemed fitting, she is your butterfly after all.” He looked at the walls, where some butterflies had been painted long before Aika had been born. “The baby shower, there were butterflies then, and all Gonta thinks of when she thinks of the little Saihara baby is the butterflies.”</p><p>“I get it, and it doesn’t bother me at all! It just confuses me, because I’ve never thought of Aika <em>as</em> a butterfly before, she’s always been more meshed with music in my mind. This one, though—” she gestured towards her stomach, where she’d been hesitant to admit she’d been feeling some of those fluttering movements for the better part of a week, “—I can’t help but think that maybe they’d be better for the butterfly comparisons.”</p><p>“If Aika is not a butterfly, then what shall she be called?” Gonta’s curiosity was tangible, and Kaede felt bad not having a solid answer for his question. “Then perhaps she can be the large butterfly, and the second baby can be the small one?”</p><p>“That’s an idea,” she said after giving it a moment of thought, thinking about how that would be a good way to compare them as siblings. “But doesn’t the idea of butterflies make you think more about a girl? We still don’t know what this baby is, maybe we should wait on the nicknames until we do.”</p><p>Gonta looked at the butterflies on the wall for a split second longer, before giving a very determined shake of his head. “No, butterflies can be both male and female, there is no reason to say it has to mean one over the other. Aika will be the large butterfly and the baby will be the small butterfly, and Gonta refuses to change his mind about this so please don’t ask him to.”</p><p>“I won’t ask you to change it, don’t worry!” Smiling at him, Kaede felt like there was so much more she could say or ask about what he was saying, but she didn’t know where to start. It was obvious that he had some strong feeling on the matter, and she wanted to know why that was, even though approaching that particular aspect of the conversation would be tricky. Was it him enjoying children, or was there something more to it? But after watching him gently tickle Aika and get her giggling even with his strong fingers, she couldn’t resist any longer. “Say, Gonta, why are you so insistent on having nicknames for my children, and to get to spend time with Aika like this?”</p><p>He was slightly confused by her question, until he looked at what he was doing and erupted into hearty laughter. “Oh! Gonta just likes children, and wants to be a friend to them just like he is a friend to all bugs. Is that a problem?”</p><p>“Not at all! I just thought, well, maybe there’s more to it than that, but I guess not.” She was expecting, with an answer like that, that there would be nothing more to be said, but Gonta surprised her by following up with how he wished he could be around children more often, maybe even some of his own, but no one would give him the time of day to allow him to do that. Kaede’s heart began to break as he kept talking, hearing him discuss how he’d tried to date women but they were always put off by his giant appearance and his speech patterns (which he was adamant he was working on, and she could agree that he was, minus his frequent lapses into using third person to refer to himself).</p><p>By the time Shuichi and the others had finished what they were doing, for the most part, the only things from Aika’s room that had been taken care of were the crib and the dresser, because Gonta and Kaede had gotten too distracted by their conversation, and they had to scramble to get everything else sorted and taken out to the truck. Curious about why they’d been so far behind, Shuichi had tried to ask Kaede to explain, but she’d shaken her head and told him that some things were best kept between friends.</p><p>Their last walk-through of the house before they headed to take all of their belongings to their temporary homes was spent with minds focused on what had happened there in that nursery, Kaede mentally adding Gonta’s name to the list of approved short-term babysitters and Shuichi wondering what he’d missed by helping with everything else. The final thing they grabbed before leaving was the new baby’s board off of the wall, a precious piece of cargo that had to ride over to its new place somewhere safe, Aika’s board having been laid out in an empty backseat of one of the multiple cars being used for the endeavor. “This is going to be important to keep with us,” Kaede said, watching Shuichi tuck it under his arm to carry it outside. “Just a couple weeks until we know what this butterfly is.”</p><p>“Did you just call them a butterfly?” he asked, amused, and she felt her cheeks warm up at her slip. “Was that something Gonta said to you?”</p><p>“It was, and at first I wasn’t fully on-board with it. But like everything else in life, I’m warming up to the idea.”</p><p><em>seventeen</em>.</p><p>New Year’s should have been being spent at their house, in the rooms that they’d lived and loved in for several previous years, but due to everything going on outside of their relationship it was necessary that the end of the year was spent at a neutral location. That location in particular was Kaito and Maki’s place, to contrast how they’d showed up unannounced at Kaede and Shuichi’s the year before, and because one third of the family was already living there, it made sense that it was where they chose to celebrate. “And let me guess, they’re going to have all sorts of alcohol around to get trashed on,” Kaede said into the phone as she and Shuichi were discussing that plan the morning of. “Or, I should say, that Kaito’s going to get trashed on, and the rest of you to drink and enjoy because I can’t. Again.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t have been drinking anyway, but yes, he’s made some purchases of some cheap liquors for the occasion. Maki tried to convince him to buy something a little more higher quality, but he insisted that it had to be the cheapest kinds across the board.” Shuichi had to muffle the receiver on his phone for something going on around him, and when she was listening to silence Kaede glanced towards where Tenko and Himiko were playing with Aika, the two of them cooing and waving at her as they gave her toy after toy. “Sorry about that, they’re starting to talk about when people are showing up and I don’t know when that’ll be for the four of you so I told them I’d ask. So…when are you thinking of getting here? Soon?”</p><p>“That’s a question for Tenko, I think,” she admitted, pulling her phone away from her face to call out to Tenko, “When are we going to go over? Shuichi’s asking me because the others are asking him.” She was given a non-committal noise as a response, followed with Himiko mumbling something about not wanting to go, and Kaede slowly nodded at the two very different answers, still not having any sort of idea. “We’re going to go with ‘whenever we show up’, which I’m sure will please Maki.”</p><p>“I figured about as much, which is what I tried to tell them but it’s whatever. See you when you get here.” Hanging up without much fanfare, Shuichi went back to what he’d been doing before he’d called in the first place, and Kaede looked at her phone longingly for a moment, wishing she wasn’t where she was in that moment and was instead with him. It had only been a week since they’d moved into the separate homes, but it felt like it had been so much longer, since they’d seen each other only twice in that time. One time had been a quick visit before work, when Shuichi dropped by to smother Aika in kisses before he went to the office, and the other had been for a dinner with all their friends, which had ended prematurely when Kaito and Tenko had started arguing and needed to be split up.</p><p>It was not exactly promising that they were going to be in the same room again, with drinking involved, but Kaede couldn’t stop her friends from doing what they wanted to. “I let them know we’ll be there eventually,” she told the other two, setting her phone down on their countertop and heading to where they were playing with Aika, them stopping to look at her quizzically. “What? Neither of you gave me an answer.”</p><p>“I don’t want to go,” Himiko reminded her with a yawn, picking up another one of the various toys that she’d been using to play with and beginning to twirl its fluffy hair. “Not after dinner the other night. It takes too much magic to keep them from killing each other when we’re all together.”</p><p>“Too bad, we’re going.” There were few things in life Kaede was going to get forceful about, and spending New Year’s Eve with her husband and most of her friends was something she was doing, no ifs, ands, or buts. “They’ll have their own sort of magic stopping them from getting nasty tonight, anyway.”</p><p>Tenko snorted, trying her hardest to look like she believed what she was hearing. “If you’re talking about drinking, count me out. A good martial artist stays away from wasting their time drinking, no matter how much alcohol they need to survive being around an insufferable degenerate like Kaito.”</p><p>“I’m sure he’ll wear that title with pride,” Kaede coldly replied, approaching her friends and bending down to pick Aika up from the floor between them, only having a minor struggle with standing back up due to the awkward way she was carrying all her weight. “We’re going to go and get ready, and then I’ll set the board up, and then we need to get a picture tonight before we head over there.”</p><p>Exchanging a look between them, Tenko spoke up when Himiko merely grumbled something under her breath. “See, Kaede, the thing here is that we think you’re starting to get a little bit…bossy about everything. It has to be your way, or no one’s way at all, and we don’t appreciate that here in this home. You can either be nicer, or you’re going to find somewhere else to live.”</p><p>“Bossy? Me?” Now, Kaede was not ignorant to her own behavior, and she knew that her time being forcibly separated from Shuichi had made her much more irritable than she would have been otherwise (or perhaps it was the fact that she was nineteen weeks pregnant and had a seven-month-old to be watching all the time). She knew that she’d been assertive in what she wanted, how she wanted it, and when she wanted it, but she never would have had the audacity to call someone acting like she was <em>bossy</em>. “I think you’ve got me confused with someone else, I’m just acting pretty normal.”</p><p>“Then your normal’s gotten to being super bossy, and we don’t appreciate it,” Himiko piped up, while Tenko stood to meet Kaede more on her own level. “We just want you to be nicer, like you used to be.”</p><p>“Well, maybe not like you used to be, because we’re realistic and we know that you’ve gone through a lot of changes lately, but at least a more decent person than you are now.” Reaching over and grabbing Kaede’s arm, Tenko gave her a small smile. “I know that your nice heart is still in there, deep down somewhere underneath that…uh…”</p><p>“Giant chest? Is that what you’re trying to avoid saying?” Kaede saw where Tenko’s eyes were darting and she wanted to call attention to it right away, and when Tenko squirmed at the accusation she knew she’d gotten her in one shot. “Look, I get it that you think I’ve changed a whole bunch, and not in a good way, but can you please think about everything that’s currently going on in my life? Think about how I have one, almost two kids and I’m currently forced to live separate from my husband for everyone’s safety and I—”</p><p>“You’re getting that bossy tone in your voice.” Also standing to support the one she loved, Himiko sounded as dull as ever, but she was raising the point she needed to. “And that’s the problem, I think. You’re so focused on everyone thinking about you, you, you, that you’re forgetting there’s more to life than you.”</p><p>“—excuse me?”</p><p>“Himiko’s right, actually.” Tenko let go of Kaede’s arm and brought her hands up in front of her face, pushing them together as if she was praying. “I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear, but telling you tonight means you can start the new year fresh and working towards the best you that you can be. You’re so incredibly focused on everything related to you and your family that you seem to ignore that the rest of us? We have lives and feelings too.”</p><p>Taking this information was not easy for Kaede, as she was holding Aika on her hip and trying to maintain a steady balance on her feet with the girl waving and trying to get back to the other women from within her grasp. “Name one time I’ve done that, because I can’t think of a single one.”</p><p>“Just a bit ago, when you said we’re going even though Himiko doesn’t want to go. Is that being considerate of her wishes, or of my tolerance of stupidity?” Giving a very pronounced shake of her head, Tenko continued, “I don’t think it is, Kaede, and that’s what we’re talking about right now!”</p><p>Scrunching her mouth to one side as she thought about that statement and how it was actually true, Kaede didn’t want to admit defeat, so she quickly spat, “Name another time! I’m sure that’s the only one either of you can come up with!”</p><p>Lo and behold, it was far from the only time, and by the tenth minute of being barraged with all of her shortcomings and uncalled for bursts of attitude, she was beyond aware that she was fighting a losing battle, and she knew the two had much more to lob at her because they’d barely covered the last week of their lives. She still didn’t want to verbally let them know that they’d won, so she instead chose to let her volatile emotions take over and began to start crying, right there in front of them while still holding Aika, who’d grown quite confused at first the sound of angered voices and now the sound of her mother’s sobbing. “I don’t think she’s really crying because she’s sad about this,” Himiko correctly called, looking at Tenko with a straight, unamused face. “I think she just wants you to leave her alone.”</p><p>“You were in on this too!” Tenko reminded her, pushing her shoulder playfully as she raised her voice to speak over the raising volume of Kaede’s attempted distraction. “But you’re right, I think we’ve done enough damage. Now we get to see if she’s going to learn from this from us, or if she’s going to need Maki in on it too to get her to learn her lesson finally.”</p><p>“T-this doesn’t leave this room!” Kaede shouted, her voice cracking with her crying as she tried to overpower the others. “I’m sorry I’m not <em>good</em> enough for either of you, but I am trying my best right now! Isn’t that enough to be appreciated?”</p><p>“It’d be appreciated if you weren’t so rude when you do it.”</p><p>“What Himiko means is that we’d find it easier to appreciate what you are doing if it didn’t come with so much we don’t appreciate. Just…” Sighing, Tenko once again grabbed Kaede’s arm to steady them both and to give them a physical connection. “I can’t say I know anything about how you’re feeling, what you’re going through, yadda yadda, blah blah, that sort of thing, but I can say that you’re not the Kaede I’ve known for years anymore. You’re a different person most days, but I know that the old you is still in there somewhere.”</p><p>Her breathing beginning to steady as she understood that crying to get her way wasn’t going to work after all, Kaede felt Tenko’s seriousness in the way she was avoiding digging her fingertips into her arm as she held it. “I’m sure she’s in here somewhere too, but do you know how much else is in here? All these worries and problems and thoughts and—” She inhaled sharply, before coughing out, “—the fact that I’m in everything way over my head right now. I can’t keep living like this. I want to go home and have Shuichi there with me and my piano and Aika’s bedroom and everything I’ve worked so hard for and I just don’t have it right now!”</p><p>“I know, I know, but…” Her voice trailed into nothingness as Tenko didn’t know what there was she could offer, and as she let go of Kaede’s arm she shook her head and headed out to her bedroom, the door just off the side of the main room. “I’m going to get ready for tonight, since I think you need that one bit of normalcy if you can get it.”</p><p>“I thought we weren’t going?” Himiko asked, having only paid attention to the parts of that part of the conversation that related to her own interests and desires. When Tenko told her that she was welcome to not go, but that she herself was going to be there for her friend who needed it, she gave a frown but ultimately decided that attending was best for herself as well.</p><p>By the time they arrived over at Kaito and Maki’s new place, they had mostly moved past the arguing that had plagued their day thus far, although it was clear that there was awkwardness in the air between them. They walked in through the unlocked front door of the apartment, greeted by boxes that had yet to be unpacked and Kaito’s reddened face lit up in a grin as he saw his most favorite of guests coming inside. “Don’t hesitate to get a drink as soon as you’re ready for one!” he announced, gesturing grandly towards the counter in the kitchen where all of his bottles of cheap liquor had been organized by color. “I’m expecting everyone to have at least one!”</p><p>“Except the one who won’t be drinking anything,” Maki added, her eyes glaring daggers right at Kaede, who held Aika’s seat a little tighter as she looked for somewhere she could set it down. “But everyone else can have one, sure.”</p><p>“C’mon Maki Roll, you’ve got to let her live a little!” he protested, seemingly forgetting completely why it was that someone among them couldn’t be drinking in the first place. But that changed when he actually looked at where Maki’s eyes were focused and he laughed, smacking himself on the forehead. “Oh, right! Don’t want to hurt the mini Shuichi, didn’t think about that.”</p><p>“Glad to know we’re starting that again. It was something I’ve so, definitely, missed hearing over and over from you.” It wasn’t annoyance that Kaede spoke with, or at least not intentionally, despite absolutely hating that sort of statement from Kaito. She was only holding back on reminding him how she felt about it because she knew, without a doubt, that he’d started drinking already and that he wasn’t quite himself. “Let’s not assign this one a mini-status, especially since you’ve <em>met</em> Aika and you know she isn’t a mini of either of us.”</p><p>“Trust me, he’s aware of that fact.” Entering the room with a couple different boxes of games he’d found somewhere in the clutter of the apartment, Shuichi gave a small smile when he saw Kaede standing there, nearly dropping what he was holding until Maki came and took it from him. “We’ve been talking a lot about that this week, actually, about how Aika is definitely her own person and she can’t be defined as being a copy of one of us.”</p><p>As a fitting entry into the conversation, Aika gave an excited screech, flapping her arms in her seat as she saw her father coming into her view, and Kaede set the seat down so that he could bend down and unbuckle her to hold her himself. “Well, we’ll see if he remembers that tomorrow, or any days after this. Tonight I fully expect him to insist she’s a mini…me? I guess? and that the new baby will have to be a mini you, because it wouldn’t be right if I had two minis and you didn’t have one.”</p><p>“That wouldn’t be right, yeah,” Kaito said, having been listening to everything and sagely nodding as if he was fully invested in the topic at hand. “Everyone’s got to have a mini of them someday. You’ve got yours, so this time my sidekick’s getting his. After that? No idea, maybe it’ll be my turn and—”</p><p>“I’ve told you a million times, Kaito, there’s no way in hell we’re having children so get that thought out of your head.” Maki’s cold interjection shut him right up, to the point that he even lost the grin he’d been wearing. “Sorry, next year he’s not getting to drink, end of discussion. I’m not sure what it is with New Year’s that makes him think he has to wake up on the first with a hangover, but here we are.”</p><p>“Actually, on that topic,” Tenko started, twirling a long strand of her hair around a finger as all eyes (sans Kaito’s and Aika’s) shifted towards her. “This isn’t anything definitive or fully set in stone, but we’ve been talking about that sort of thing lately, me and Himiko, and we’re kind of thinking that we want to look into bringing a child into our own home.”</p><p>The crestfallen look on Maki’s face at the mere idea of another child being introduced to their social group was overshadowed by the excited and shocked ones that Kaede and Shuichi both found themselves wearing. “How come you haven’t mentioned this sooner?” Kaede asked her, putting a hand on top of her stomach without actually realizing she was doing it. “I think it would be so cool for our kids to get to grow up with one of yours!”</p><p>“That’s kind of why we’ve been thinking about it, since any child we’d adopt would be able to have immediate friends in Aika and whatever the new one’ll be, and that would help them.” A pause, while Tenko let the hair unravel from her finger, only to start twirling it again. “Actually, let me start that over. We’ve been thinking about this because <em>she</em> would be able to play with Aika, and maybe the new one too if they’re a girl as well. Since, you know, adopting means we’d get to make that choice and do you really think I’d have a boy living in my house?”</p><p>“I’ve tried to tell her it wouldn’t be that bad, but she refuses to listen to my reasons or my magic,” Himiko explained, masking her clear excitement that this topic had finally been breached with the whole group. “But it’s Tenko, she does her own thing.”</p><p>Just about everyone nodded, even Kaito who’d finally joined in the conversation despite not knowing what was being talked about. “I agree with Kaede on thinking it would be cool for these kids to grow up together, but that’s a big choice to make, and it’s not exactly the easiest thing to do, balancing work and family. Are you sure you’re both really interested in doing it?” Shuichi, holding Aika against his chest in a hug as she chewed on his shirt collar, glanced at the two and waited for a visual response that never came. “I’m not saying you’d not be able to handle it, but things do happen that you don’t expect.”</p><p>“Like having to move into friends’ homes because your neighbor is a drug dealer and you couldn’t keep it in your pants long enough to not outgrow your house?” Kaito loudly asked, knowing what he’d heard and knowing how to respond to it. The mortified gasp that filled the room as everyone there, Maki included, processed what he’d said let him know that he might have crossed a line with things, but he was in too deep to actually stop. “Then again, I don’t think they’d have that problem. Neither of them are detectives, and neither of them are guys.”</p><p>“Astute observation, Kaito,” Maki said, breaking the stunned silence of everyone else as they were trying to figure out their own ways to respond. “In fact, I’d say that’s the most accurate read you’ve ever had on Tenko and Himiko. Neither are detectives and neither are a guy.”</p><p>He beamed at her, seemingly unaware that the response had been dripping with thick sarcasm. “Thanks, I’ve been working on understanding my friends better. Can’t just be the goofy guy with the nice hair, I’ve gotta have the brains too.”</p><p>“He has…no idea that what he said wasn’t necessary, does he?” Kaede asked Shuichi in a whisper, while he stared at her and shrugged the shoulder Aika’s face currently wasn’t buried in. “Someone should really tell him not to say things like that.”</p><p>“I’d do it, but I know this isn’t Kaito talking, it’s the half bottle of something or other he’s drinking that’s speaking for him,” Shuichi replied, also keeping his voice down low. “I’ll bring it up with him tomorrow, provided that Maki doesn’t do it before I get the chance.”</p><p>The mood for the evening had been given a sour note, but they worked hard to turn it around with the activities that had been planned for them to all partake in. Those games that had been brought out were meant to last them a few hours, but there was something about everyone slowly losing themselves to their drinks as they hashed out inappropriate responses with cards to someone’s prompt that was addicting, and they sat around the table playing a single card game for most of the night. There was one interruption, somewhere around nine that evening, when Kaede realized she hadn’t taken a picture to mark the occasion, for herself (and the baby) or for Aika, and because everyone was there it was easy to get one put together. The board had been put in the back of Tenko’s car earlier that day for that very reason, so after someone went out to grab that and the chalk, Kaede was able to write down everything she needed to and have someone get all the pictures she needed, before Aika was asleep for the night and wouldn’t be able to participate.</p><p>By no means was the picture taken there in that apartment anything like one that would have been taken at home, but surrounded by friends, it was one of the warmer moments she’d had documenting both her daughter’s life and the pregnancy she was currently experiencing. It was the memory of the moment that was important, not the fact that there were bottles visible in the foreground as well as a stray hand (Himiko’s to be specific, as she hadn’t been able to move fast enough) that crept into the bottom of the picture, covering the corner of the board as it hung on the wall by a thread. Kaede knew that years down the road, it was one that the kids were going to look at and be incredibly curious about, but she also knew that there was quite the story attached that she’d love to tell.</p><p>Minus the parts where everyone else in the room had been rather inebriated and she was by far the only sane, safe-to-drive one there, but those wouldn’t need to be shared.</p><p><em>eighteen</em>.</p><p>The day of reckoning had come upon them, for better or for worse, and when Shuichi showed up outside of Tenko and Himiko’s place mid-morning that day all Kaede could think about was how they were going to be receiving some of the biggest news they could ask for, and she wasn’t sure how she wanted it to go. She’d run through all the different options and possibilities through her head, while Aika would be asleep in her crib and she’d be uncomfortably shifting on the tiny mattress she was calling her bed for the time being, and she’d found herself fairly confident on what she wanted to do. “We’ll announce it later this week,” she told Shuichi when she climbed into the passenger’s seat, him watching her carefully as she buckled herself in, it rather strange that they were getting to go somewhere just the two of them. “We’ll have the doctor give it to us in the envelope and I’ll hand that off to…uh…”</p><p>“You don’t know who you want to know before us?” he asked, driving off the moment he could so that they’d make it to the appointment in time. “I mean, who are our options right now? The people we’re living with, right?”</p><p>She pursed her lips together, her tongue running across the backs of her teeth as she thought about all of their options, before nodding. “Yeah. Maki’s the one I’d prefer, but her knowing means Kaito finding out and we know how well that went last time. He ruined the surprise for us because he wasn’t aware Maki was the one who was supposed to know!”</p><p>“And with me living there, the chance of it getting out would be even higher.” Drumming his fingers on the wheel, Shuichi took a turn down a neighborhood road and slowed down intentionally, creeping along as to give them the time to think before getting onto busier streets. “That means we should leave this up to someone else, unfortunately.”</p><p>“That’s what I’m thinking too, but I’m stuck on who. Himiko would be a safe choice, even with me living with her, because she’d keep it to herself, but I’m scared she wouldn’t do anything at all and blame her ‘magic’ when nothing gets done.” Kaede listened to her husband’s patterned tapping, the sound of his fingers hitting the wheel sounding oddly reminiscent of a melody on the piano, and it made her long for a bit of normalcy. “The problem with Himiko knowing is Tenko, because if she finds out and it’s not what she wants, she’ll cause a scene.”</p><p>“This is very true as well. But looking past these options, there’s not many that I think could do it. If we were at home, Ryoma certainly could, or Kirumi or Gonta if we needed, but we’re not doing this out of our own space so they’re not options. If he was around, Rantaro could be used without any question, but again, he’s not around so he’s off the table.” Another name hit Shuichi’s lips but he refused to let it pass them, instead choosing to name off others over them. “Tsumugi would do it her own way, and contacting her would get us wrapped up in her own plans for the reveal, not anything we’d want.”</p><p>Kaede counted out how many people they’d suggested, then added a couple that were not getting thrown out as options, no matter how accessible they might have been. “The only other person I can think of right now would be the photographer girl, since having her take pictures would be a fun addition to the whole thing, but I don’t know if she’d be available on such short notice. What was her name, anyway?”</p><p>“Mahiru? She’d be an interesting choice, but financially and time-wise we couldn’t make that happen. Let’s address this with Himiko later, since it seems she’s the only one we could actually make this work with.” Now that the decision had been made, even if it wasn’t the best one they could have made overall, he sped up to normal speed and continued on their way to the doctor’s office, where an undoubtedly eventful appointment awaited them.</p><p>The doctor greeted them when they got into the waiting room, unusual but nothing too concerning, especially since they were actually early to the appointment despite their slow start in getting there. “The person ahead of you cancelled last minute, so I’m ready to take you back now,” she said with a smile, opening the door to the back hallway and letting them come inside as soon as they’d checked in. “It’s been one of those wild and crazy days around here, let me tell you. Anything strange that could happen today has happened, I wouldn’t be surprised if something weird came up with your scan.”</p><p>“Please, if it’s going to be anything weird, let’s hope it’s as simple as extra fingers or toes or maybe not being able to tell what they are,” Kaede replied without really thinking about what it was she was saying, until it was too late to take it back. “I-I mean, I’m worried that if anything weird does happen, it’s going to be a surprise baby or something like that.”</p><p>“We’ve had one of those today already, so don’t get your hopes up.” Leading them into the usual exam room they spent time in, they went through the motions of starting the appointment that they always did, complete with partial undressing and getting up onto the table, while the doctor talked vaguely about some of the other things that had taken place so far that day. “There’s been someone’s water breaking during an exam, there’s been surprise multiples, some other interesting things happening with high-risk pregnancies, and my favorite, someone crashing their car into the transformer outside and shutting the power off overnight, so when we got here this morning everything had to be reset because they hit the backup generator as well.”</p><p>“Geez, that’s a lot you’ve had going on here.” Beginning to seriously worry that she was moments away from being added to that list in some way, Kaede looked at Shuichi and said, “I know we don’t want to know what they are quite yet, but I almost want you to keep an eye on things just to make sure everything looks normal.”</p><p>“I’m fully confident it will be, but if that’s what you want,” he told her, reaching out to take her hand like he always did when they were there together. “I can keep my eyes exactly where they need to be to keep you comfortable.”</p><p>That was the plan, anyway, but no sooner had the doctor slathered on the thick gel and began moving the machine’s wand around to get a glimpse of the baby did Shuichi’s phone ring in his pocket, irritating the doctor immediately. “That shouldn’t be on back here,” she scolded, as he apologized and pulled it out to silence it, going pale when he saw the number and choosing to step out of the room rather than not answer at all. “What is it with men and doing their own thing whenever they want to?”</p><p>“That’s something my current roommate would definitely say,” responded Kaede, thinking about how she could almost imagine that perfectly in Tenko’s voice. “But if he’s going to actually answer it right now, that means it’s got to be something important…”</p><p>“What could be more important than getting a glimpse of his unborn child?” Shaking her head as she went back to her work, the doctor soon had the grainy image in sight on the screen beside her and she was going over all of the parts that she could without spoiling a surprise, naming off everything that she saw and counting fingers and toes where it was possible, just to keep Kaede’s mind at ease. It was at the point after she’d had to close her eyes when the anatomy scan happened that Shuichi came back, still with no color in his face, and his eyes went instantly to what was on the screen. “Looks just like Aika did,” he said, trying not to let his voice waver. “And with that, I’ve already let the others know someone needs to come get you, because I have to go. Now.”</p><p>The urgency in his voice, as well as hearing it crack on the final word, made Kaede’s blood run cold. “What’s going on? Is everyone okay?”</p><p>He didn’t answer her questions, merely telling her, “I have to go take care of an urgent case update at work. I’m so sorry I couldn’t be here for more of this, you know I would’ve been if I could’ve,” before he leaned into her to give her a kiss and then was out the door. His sudden departure confused them both, but no amount of speculating was going to give them the answers they were looking for—although it did, for better or worse, give the doctor yet another thing to add to her crazy day’s checklist.</p><p>Waiting outside the building when Kaede walked out bundled tightly in her jacket (with the sealed envelope containing their child’s biological sex) was Tenko, her car parked right in front so that it couldn’t be missed. She’d rolled down the window when she saw Kaede coming outside, just to yell, “Hurry up! Himiko says that there’s news crews on your street and she won’t tell me why!”</p><p>“Oh geez, something else now?” Kaede picked up her pace as much as she could as she went around the car to get in, and once she was safely seated they were barreling out of the parking lot. “She hasn’t told you anything at all? I wonder if it’s a fire, it’d be just fantastic if the construction crew set my house on fire today of all days.”</p><p>“She didn’t tell me anything other than that they interrupted the show she was watching with Aika to start broadcasting, and that upset her because they were learning about animals together.” Tenko’s brows furrowed as she thought about what it could possibly be, while Kaede began to worry for the safety of the things that mattered most to her that hadn’t been able to leave the house during their temporary relocation.</p><p>Instead of doing the logical thing and going back to the apartment to watch the news for themselves, Tenko drove them right into the neighborhood the house was in, intending on getting close enough to see what was going on but finding that police had blocked off all ways to the street. “It’s not a fire,” she deduced, not noticing smoke in the air, “but it’s definitely a big deal. I wonder if this has anything to do with why I had to come get you.”</p><p>“That’s…an idea.” It was a miracle that hadn’t dawned on Kaede sooner, knowing that Shuichi had left to handle a work-related issue. “Didn’t he tell you anything about it when he called you?”</p><p>“He didn’t call me, Maki did.” As she was turning around to get them back on the path they needed to take home, Tenko glanced towards Kaede and, in the most serious voice she could manage given her usual flair for being a bit dramatic, told her, “I don’t want to make any wrong guesses here, but I think this is all connected and the two of them know more than any of us, including Himiko, and she’s at home watching this unfold on TV!”</p><p>The lightbulb in Kaede’s mind clicked on, and she felt her hands instinctively tighten on the envelope she was still holding. “Something happened with the drug lord and…and…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the name that she knew needed to follow, not wanting to assume that the worst had happened. “We need to get back and see what’s going on for ourselves. Can you drive faster?”</p><p>“With all these cops around? No thanks, I’ll follow the law until we’re out of sight.” True enough, the moment Tenko didn’t see police activity in the rearview mirror she sped up more and more until she was going far over the speed limit, getting back to her parking spot outside her building in record time. They headed up the single flight of stairs as fast as they could, which for Kaede wasn’t nearly as fast as it could have been, and got into the apartment right as the TV on the wall cut back to coverage of the street and whatever was brewing there on it.</p><p>“Look, that’s your house right there,” Himiko was saying to Aika, pointing to a house on the screen that Kaede recognized as being the correct one the moment it was pointed out. “That window’s your bedroom, and on the other side is going to be a new bedroom for your brother or sister. How cool for them to get the new room.”</p><p>“Himiko!” Tenko yelled, startling her and the child both at the sudden sound. “What’s happening, we tried to go see for ourselves but the police wouldn’t let us break their barrier, no matter how many times I told them Kaede lives on the street they’re surrounding.”</p><p>“Don’t lie to her, you didn’t tell them anything even once,” Kaede said grimly, not finding it in her to laugh at what would have been a joke in a less stressful moment. “But please, do you know what’s going on right now? You’d know better than we would.”</p><p>Her eyes looking up towards the ceiling, Himiko brought a finger to her chin and replied, “I know a little bit about what’s happening, yes. They’re putting out the crime scene tape and investigating a murder-suicide, but which house and what people are dead, they haven’t said a word. Oh, and we saw Shuichi on the screen too.”</p><p>A feeling in her gut told her not to proceed with looking for information, but hearing that Shuichi was involved with the investigation only made Kaede’s biggest fear seem more plausible. “Is it close to my house?” she asked, dreading the answer.</p><p>“Two away, same side of the street,” Himiko told her without any hesitation. “Aika and I counted how many away it was before you got here. She made me do all the work.”</p><p>Tenko, noticing how Kaede was starting to wobble where she stood, directed her to the closest chair so that she could sit as she took in the information being given to her. “Let’s stay positive about what’s happening, yeah?” she suggested, stepping away to get her friend a glass of water to sip from. “There’s no guarantee that what you’re afraid of is what’s going on, you’re beginning to assume things.”</p><p>“If Shuichi’s there, then it has to have something to do with the neighbor, and if it has something to do with him then it’s bound to have something to do with Kou…with my…with such a sweet, innocent child who didn’t deserve to be in this position!” All at once she was crying, throwing the envelope from her hands onto the floor as if it was needed to be discarded. “Murder-suicide probably means that either she’s dead or she watched her father kill someone, and which one’s worse? They’re both horrible options!”</p><p>“One of them at least keeps her alive, so think about that one as the option we go with,” Tenko said, trying to calm her down for the sake of everyone else there in the room. “We’ll know eventually what’s happening, details and all, we just have to be patient.”</p><p>It wasn’t until a headline crept across the bottom of the screen that one of the deceased was a juvenile that Tenko accepted that she was fighting a losing battle and that Kaede lost herself completely to the body-shaking sobs and fits of coughing that came with them, refusing to believe that any other child would have been the one killed there in that house. She couldn’t even calm herself down when she heard the reporter on the scene start interviewing one of the investigators and it was Shuichi’s voice that followed, giving little in the way of identifying information, but seeing his face when the camera turned to him and he looked like he’d seen something horrible was what sealed the deal.<br/>
She may have only been her student for a couple weeks, but Kaede had loved that little neighbor girl with her sassy attitude and her caring heart, and to know that Kougetsu had been senselessly murdered was not something she could emotionally handle right then. All she could do was ask to be given Aika and hold her as tightly as she could, promising her daughter over and over that not a single bad thing would ever happen to a hair on her head, unless the culprit wanted to pay for it with their life.</p><p><em>nineteen</em>.</p><p>The next day, Kaede refused to talk to anyone about anything other than her most basic needs, which consisted of needing someone to help her watch Aika for a few minutes every so often. Shuichi came over as soon as he’d finished up at the crime scene that night and had given his wife every bit of emotional energy he could muster, but the death had taken its toll on him as well and there was not much he could do. He came over the next day as well, late that evening, to spend more time with his wife, but he had to leave as there was no way he could sleep over there given everything.</p><p>On the day that followed, though, plans had already been made that were not going to be changed, no matter how puffy and bruised Kaede’s eyes were from how much she’d been crying over the loss of the neighbor child. “I haven’t looked yet, but I’m going to soon,” Himiko said, waving the envelope near her head as Kaede slunk out of her room to get something to eat. “We’re going to head to the store for supplies, then I’ll open it and look, because my x-ray vision glasses that came with my magic toolbox are out of commission, and once we’re back we’ll paint the board how we need to so that you and Shuichi can have that answer you’ve been looking for.”</p><p>“It’s not the answer I want right now,” Kaede muttered, her mind thinking little about her baby and all about Kougetsu and her unnecessary murder. “I want to know why he did it, why he killed her rather than let her have the life she wanted, why he stripped her of her talents and her charms and—“</p><p>“You’re getting too worked up again, Kaede.” Tenko looked at her with pleading eyes, not wanting to make things worse but knowing that whatever she said would have the ability to do just that. “You need to think about the happy things in your life, like knowing if you’ll be raising another angel like Aika, or a degenerate male.”</p><p>Snapping her mouth shut and refusing to say anything more, Kaede grabbed a piece of fruit and went right back into her room, shutting the door quietly so that Aika wasn’t woken up by the sound. As she sat down on the edge of the bed and bit into the pear she’d grabbed, she realized, first and foremost, that she didn’t want to be eating a pear of all things, and secondly that she was taking the whole situation a bit too personally. While she knew that her emotions weren’t fully hers to control at the moment, she knew that she couldn’t blame being pregnant for how upset she was about someone getting killed, and she understood that her friends were meaning nothing but the best by sticking with the original plan. Coming to that conclusion didn’t solve the pear problem, but it did solve the emotional one, at least for the moment, and that was what mattered.</p><p>When she went out to dispose of what she didn’t eat, she found the apartment to be empty aside from her and Aika, which meant that Himiko had meant business when she said they were going to be going to the store and finding out what the baby was soon. “I’ll raise you better than that monster raised his daughter, no matter what you are,” she said to her bump, which she gently stroked with a couple fingers after she’d thrown away the fruit and washed her hands. “You and Aika both will get nothing but love and care from me and your father, and that’s a promise I’ll die to keep.” Underneath her touch, she could feel healthy flutters that meant the baby was active, still a surreal sensation to experience even though she’d dealt with it for months before. “That’s right, little one, this mom is here to protect you and keep you absolutely safe from anything, no matter what.” She inhaled deeply and headed back to the bedroom once again, this time to see Aika sitting up on the bottom of her crib, her eyes still mostly closed and her mouth suckling on the air.</p><p>Rather than wake her daughter from her clearly enjoyable dream, Kaede chose to sit back on the bed and watch her as she stopped suckling and instead slumped over forward, only to wake up a few minutes later with a bone-chilling scream. Keeping what she’d previously said in mind, she grabbed Aika and began cradling her, a task much harder now than it had ever been before, getting her as close to the sound of her heartbeat as she could. “I’m here to protect you too, from nightmares and bad guys alike,” she whispered into the girl’s ear, as she slowly came down from her terrified state. “There’s nothing bad that will happen to you when I’m around, nothing at all.”</p><p>Eventually Aika calmed down and began trying to roll out of her mother’s grasp, which she was allowed to do onto the bed, where she picked herself up onto her hands and knees and began rocking back and forth, trying her hardest to start propelling herself across the sheets but unable to quite find the coordination for it. “You’ll get the hang of it soon enough,” Kaede said, watching the girl with a smile. “It’s different for everyone, and just because most babies would know how to do this by now isn’t a problem, you just take your time.”</p><p>The girl, hearing and recognizing the voice speaking to her but not knowing what was being said, looked to her mother with shining eyes, a glimmer of tears in their corners, before carefully lifting one of her hands and placing it in front of her a bit further. As Kaede watched, she moved the other hand, then did the same with both of her legs, a tiny bit of forward progress but progress nonetheless, and in her surprise Kaede reached over and scooped the girl back up, causing her to howl with giggles. “You’ve been holding out on us, Aika!” she squealed, nuzzling her face into the girl’s stomach as she arched herself backwards, trying to get back to her crawling. “Just you wait until your dad gets to see this, he’ll be more excited than I am about it!”</p><p>In the time that it took for Himiko and Tenko to come back, Aika had only made a little more progress on her crawling ability, but she was able to actually move more than she previously had been, and that was something to be excited about. So when one of them knocked at the bedroom door, to let Kaede know she couldn’t come out of the room until they said she could, she wanted them to come inside to see the girl’s newfound skill, but she knew that bringing them in would inevitably make her have to stay in there longer. They could find out that Aika had started to actually crawl at a later time, she decided, and now that she knew they were back and getting things ready for the reveal, she knew they needed to get themselves ready as well.</p><p>Coordinating outfits were a must when it came to moments that would be photographed and saved forever, unless there was some reason why Aika had a onesie or a dress that didn’t have some match in Kaede’s closet. That day was not an exception, as she’d purposely bought a shirt for herself that labeled her as a mother of two, while Aika’s matching onesie noted that she was number one—the one that would be held in the intended picture would refer to the new baby as number two, and would have a splash of color that matched whatever color the others used on the board. That had been discussed by Shuichi on her behalf, as she’d been too distraught with current events to remember to talk about all of her plans with Himiko, and she hoped that the message got across exactly as it needed to.</p><p>The last minutes before the front door opened and the others arrived were some of the more stressful moments in Kaede’s life up to that point, not because she was worried about what the baby was going to be, but because she was worried that it was going to become a bigger spectacle than she wanted it to be. There was the chance that Maki and Kaito were going to be upset they hadn’t been asked to prepare the board, and there was the chance that someone, anyone, was going to start an argument about what the reveal told them. She had her suspicions as to who that was going to be, because she hadn’t heard anything yet and that seemed like a promising sign, but she didn’t know what to expect.</p><p>Finally, the moment she was waiting for came as Tenko put a barrage of knocks on the door, barely giving Kaede the chance to tell her to open it before it was thrown open. “Himiko wouldn’t let me see either, she’s done this all herself,” she explained, which in turn explained why Kaede hadn’t heard anything positive or negative on the matter. “She let me pick out the colors of paint at the store, but which one she used? I’ll find out the same time you do.”</p><p>“Nyeh, I only had her pick out the colors because I didn’t want her ruining anything if she got to paint.” Coming up beside Tenko with a bored expression, Himiko’s hands were hiding behind her back as if she was holding something in them. “She was very insistent on picking out lots of greens and blues, I think we’ll have to paint something of our own sometime with all of the colors she wanted us to get.”</p><p>“I just happen to think they’re great colors, okay?” Sounding defensive, Tenko didn’t look the least bit ashamed for her choice in colors to buy, and Kaede couldn’t get upset about it. After all, when she’d let Maki do the work, she’d ended up with red and purple as the color choices, so Tenko’s decision to go with greens and blues still didn’t give up the secret, especially since they all knew she’d just been picking paint, she didn’t know a thing. “Anyway, get on out here, with your eyes closed, we’re ready for you to see what we’ve got waiting for you.”</p><p>“Ah, right, someone’s going to have to help me with Aika then, if my eyes need to be closed.” That was where Himiko volunteered Tenko for the job, claiming that she couldn’t for some reason, and as much as it was likely she was saying it out of laziness, the fact that she still hadn’t moved her hands seemed to say otherwise. When Tenko came in and picked Aika up, the girl blabbering on in her baby talk as she was hoisted into the air, Himiko waited until she saw Kaede’s eyes closed before she tucked something into her hand and told her not to peek, not until she was ready.</p><p>They led her out of the room and across the living space, positioning her against the wall with Himiko getting rather bossy about what she needed to specifically be doing, a task made difficult when she still couldn’t open her eyes. “Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon,” Maki said from somewhere in the room, and that was how Kaede knew that this moment was going down with an actual audience. “Stop looking like you’re about to cry and just accept it.”</p><p>“I look like I’m about to cry?” Kaede asked, almost opening her eyes to show that she wasn’t anywhere close to tears, but the moment she barely cracked one open Himiko snapped for her to close it right back up. She wasn’t allowed to open them until she could feel an arm wrapped around her, the hand belonging to it resting on top of the side of her stomach, and she could clearly hear Aika’s babbling next to her, as well as Shuichi’s nervous, almost panicked breathing. This was taking a toll on both of them, and she was ready to get it over with, so when she was told that they could both open their eyes she did in a nanosecond, looking over to the board and—“Himiko, why are the letters still white?”</p><p>At once the moment felt like it was ruined, as Kaede tried to run through every possibility for why there was no color for her to look at on the board, but it took a gentle nudging from her loving husband to see the way the reveal had been done instead. “Look at what’s in your hands, Kaede!” he breathlessly told her, his eyes having already left the missing color on the letters to sleuth out where the truth was hidden.</p><p>She was still waiting for an answer on why half the task that they’d gifted Himiko hadn’t been completed but she obliged with Shuichi’s request, lifting the tiny onesie she’d been handed without knowing what it was and seeing the sparkling, glitter-covered butterfly that now adorned its front, its bright pink scales taking in all the light. Her voice escaped her as she stared down at it, but Tenko was able to speak for her, yelling, “Hey, I thought you said you were grabbing that for Aika!”</p><p>“It was a trick to get you to not suspect a thing, since all you wanted to grab was green and blue paint,” Himiko smugly replied, feeling like she’d been able to pull the wool over Tenko’s eyes with the deception. “We’ll go back later to get pink paint and do it right, but I figured this would work, right? It’s unique and memorable and…”</p><p>“It’s exactly what we were hoping for,” Shuichi said, noticing that Kaede was still staring without words at what she was holding. “There’s nothing quite like a surprise mixed in with the surprise we were expecting.”</p><p>“Come on, why couldn’t you have done the blues and greens?” Kaito asked from where he and Maki were standing, watching the proceedings with minimal investment on the part of one of them. “It would’ve been nice to see that, instead of <em>another</em> butterfly-loving little girl for them!”</p><p>The objection struck a nerve with the very person who’d picked out the colors in the first place, as Tenko did not appreciate the insinuation that those colors could only have been used to announce a male child, and just as had been feared, soon there was a heated back-and-forth between the two about the results. “Another little butterfly,” Kaede mumbled, barely audible over the din around her. “I can’t believe it.”</p><p>“At least we don’t have to worry too much about getting new things, since she’ll be able to use all of Aika’s,” Shuichi added, holding his wife a bit tighter, at the cost of allowing Aika to get close enough to grab the onesie for herself and try to put it in her mouth. “I think, of all the ways for this to have gone, this might be the best-case scenario.”</p><p>After the arguing subsided (it required Tenko to remove herself from the situation to go back and buy some pink paint, now that she knew the secret she’d been kept out of), they were able to put the color on the letters and get the final pictures to mark the occasion. It wasn’t anything glamorous or extravagant, but it was enough of a moment that it felt like a bandage on the wound the events of two days prior had created.</p><p>Kaede might have lost that little neighbor girl, but she was going to have another girl of her own to protect, no matter the cost or sacrifice, and she would stop at nothing to make sure that her new butterfly would get to fly.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>twenty</em>.</p><p>Now that they knew they weren’t going to be having to rush to get brand-new clothes to fit the baby, things became a little less stressful in their already-overloaded lives. Work on the house was at its halfway point, the occasionally bitter cold days making it go by a lot slower than it would have if the renovations had been planned during the summertime, and with that in mind it was still a struggle to find time for family when they were split across the two homes. Without the fear of being hunted down and killed, they’d tossed around moving back into one of the places, but there’d been something stopping them either way. On one side, Maki didn’t want Aika living under her roof if she could help it, and on the other, there simply wasn’t enough room at Tenko and Himiko’s for Shuichi to join them over there.</p><p>In fact, if it came down to it, there wasn’t really enough room for Kaede and Aika there in the first place. The room they were using was cramped, barely bigger than the room used as Aika’s nursery at home, and between the furniture that had been brought over and the already-tiny bed that had been set up in there, there was just enough room to come in and out the door and walk around half the bed. With every passing day, that bit of space seemed just a little smaller, yet with everything working against them it seemed unlikely that any compromise or way to adjust things would be happening. All Kaede felt she could do was hope and pray that they’d be back in their own house before she couldn’t comfortably get between the bed and Aika’s crib, or else there’d be a lot of other problems to be discussed.</p><p>There was just nothing that could be done to speed up time, or to make everything else slow down, or to get the one stubborn person in the equation to change her mind. The thing was, the room Shuichi was staying in, even though it was barely put together and the bed he was using was a to-be-tossed mattress on the floor, had much more space than two of the room Kaede was using would have. He’d tried to argue the point many times, but Maki remained steadfast on her stance that she was not having a child live under her roof for any amount of time, and there was nothing that would get her to reconsider. Even when Tenko got in on asking, having heard one too many complaints about the lack of space in the guest room at her apartment, Maki refused to see things from any other perspective.</p><p>“If it matters so much that she gets more room, why don’t you let Shuichi stay with you, and Kaede can stay with us?” she coldly suggested, understanding what the problem was but not wanting to budge on the entire thing. “Oh, right, because he’s a guy and you don’t want him living there, I remember.”</p><p>“It wouldn’t help if he lives here and she doesn’t,” Tenko pointed out, “because if Aika’s here, then Kaede needs to be here too. We’re not going to strip a baby of her mother just because someone wants to be stubborn.”</p><p>“It’s really fine, I can make things work as they are,” Kaede jumped in with an assuring tone, knowing that she was lying more than anything. She was tired of having to adjust her stance when she tried to pick her daughter up from the crib, because standing straight up with the limited leg room would have her stomach pressing uncomfortably against the wooden bars, but she wasn’t going to start a giant argument between friends over her own problem. She knew that they were being generous by not blaming her and her choices for why she was struggling so much right then, and she didn’t want those fingers to start being pointed in her direction if she could help it.</p><p>That didn’t mean that she didn’t wish they could come to a compromise and get her into a room that had more space for her to use to her advantage. It wasn’t surprising even slightly that it was Maki who was putting a stop to any agreements, and it wasn’t much of a surprise either that Tenko was fighting so passionately for finding a solution that would benefit everyone, but mostly the people living under her roof. “Next month, we’ll be able to go home and have all the space we need and deserve,” Shuichi said the next time he came over to see Kaede, after a long day of working on cases that felt pointless to be pursued to such depths. “It’s not going to be too long until then.”</p><p>“But who knows how much more I’m going to be able to take of this,” she replied, bringing her hands up to her temples to rub at them with her pointer fingers. “It’s already getting tricky, and they’re not going to do anything to help me out, and I’m not really sure if there’s going to be more that I can handle before I snap.”</p><p>“Let’s not think about snapping, I’m sure you can handle this just fine. You’re one of the strongest people I’ve ever met, Kaede, and you can’t let yourself forget that.” Leaning in to kiss her tenderly, Shuichi only broke away when he could tell she wasn’t interested in the gesture, a look of shame crossing his face. “Sorry, it’s just that I don’t get to do that as often as I’d like anymore, and…”</p><p>“No, go ahead and kiss me, sweetheart.” Her response was more genuine than expected, given that she looked frustrated with the world, and this time when he came in for the kiss she reciprocated, their lips locking for several passion-filled moments until they both realized that they weren’t in the right place to be doing such a thing. “It’ll be nice when we can slip from that into doing something a bit more risqué,” she said with a laugh, bringing her hands back down to brush her fingers against her own jawline. “I’ve missed the opportunities to, uh, find intimate moments with you.”</p><p>She was beginning to fluster Shuichi, but Kaede didn’t seem to care, not with how she began to bat her eyelashes a bit more seductively than she usually would. “The time to find those moments again will come, and not a moment too soon,” he told her after having to collect himself, complete with adjusting how he was sitting. “Just be strong, you can survive this next month of being stuck over here, and when it’s all over, you know where you’ll be sleeping again.”</p><p>“In your arms, in our bed, I know.” Giving a wistful sigh, Kaede cut the theatrics with her attempted seduction and decided that it would be best not to stir the pot of their attraction when there was nowhere for them to act on it. “I just wish that our friends could come to a decision that would make passing the time a little bit easier, but I get it. I definitely get it.”</p><p>“I’ll see if there’s anything more I can do to get them to reconsider. You’d think by now that Maki would have softened her stance a little, but…” He shrugged. “That’s something between her and the world, I’m not responsible for changing her mind.”</p><p>
  <em>twenty-one.</em>
</p><p>He may not have considered himself responsible for changing Maki’s mind, but a couple days after the conversation at Tenko and Himiko’s place, Shuichi had some news to deliver to his wife when she’d finally accepted that nothing good was coming until their house was ready. “The construction’s gotten to a point where the rooms are enclosed and everything back in the main part of the house is as it’s going to be, minus some paint and flooring,” he excitedly explained to Kaede over the phone, him being at work to make the call. “They said you can’t stay there all day, in case they need to be inside working, but overnights? It’s perfectly safe and acceptable for you to be back.”</p><p>“You mean, for us to be back, don’t you?” she asked, and he laughed at her correction, assuring her that it was indeed what he meant. “That’s so exciting! Why didn’t they tell us about this sooner?”</p><p>“I might’ve dropped by before coming in to the office today to speak with the supervisor of the project, and I might’ve told him what’s been going on, and that was what he told me in return. It’s like a blessing in disguise, you not having the space at one home but being allowed to re-enter the space in another.” Pausing, Shuichi allowed for Kaede to get out her cheers of joy before he continued to address the matter with her. “If I were you, I’d reach out to as many people as you can to get help moving Aika’s things back over, and your own as well, since I’d rather you not be doing that work yourself.”</p><p>She snorted, finding his lack of reasoning amusing. “Geez, do you think that I can’t do it myself or something? Why won’t you let me do all that heavy lifting and moving?”</p><p>“The sarcasm’s appreciated, but I think you know the answer. Weren’t you just telling me the other day that you’re starting to ache whenever you lift Aika up?” It wasn’t a lie that he was reciting to her, as she had mentioned that very thing, and at hearing it part of her back began to scream in pain. “I’m sure Gonta would be willing to help, and obviously Tenko as well, and perhaps Himiko could watch Aika while you help them get things back where they belong? Or you can do it too, but again, you talked about aching and I’d hate to sign you up for a day full of being in pain.”</p><p>“Something tells me the next several months are going to be full of me being in pain,” she dryly replied, thinking about how she couldn’t recall finding this much discomfort the first time she’d been pregnant until later on. Of course, she hadn’t had to spend weeks sleeping on a cheap mattress the first time around, nor had she been needing to lift up a child over and over again. “But I get your point, Shuichi, and I’ll reach out right away. Tenko’s not here right now, so I’ll get to her later, but Gonta? Himiko? I’ve got the two of them.”</p><p>“Make sure you do it sooner rather than later, you don’t want to be stuck there longer than you need to be.” He gave his goodbye after that, needing to get back to work, and with those inspiring words in mind Kaede set out to do exactly what they’d just talked about her doing.</p><p>All it took was her leaving the bedroom to get Himiko’s attention, her sitting in front of the television with some magic show on to watch. “You’re just about to see why their so-called magic isn’t anything more than mind games,” she said, hearing Kaede approaching but not looking to see why. “I love seeing when these posers and fakes get called out.”</p><p>“I guess I can watch that much with you, but then we need to talk about something.” Making it known that she meant business was necessary, yet Kaede ended up watching several short episodes of the show with Himiko before they were able to discuss matters, and by then Aika needed attention and trying to have a serious conversation when there was an inquisitive little girl slowly crawling around the room was quite difficult. It managed to get done after some time, with Himiko ultimately agreeing to watch Aika for the time it would take to get everything moved back over to the house.</p><p>With that half of the planning finished, it came down to reaching out to Gonta to get his help, and he was going to be the trickier one. He’d recently gotten a phone of his own, instead of needing to be reached by the desk phone at the bug pavilion he’d been working at, but actually getting him to answer it in a timely manner was similar to hitting the lottery: it took a lot of sheer luck. Kaede tried calling him several times, Himiko got in on it for a couple attempts, and even after Tenko was home she too was in for trying to place the calls (once she knew why and understood that it was no slight against her at all). “Maybe you’ll just have to leave me to it,” Tenko said, referring to moving the furniture as she flexed one of her arms. “I mean, I don’t have the truck like he does, but I’ve got the strength.”</p><p>“The strength is nice and all, but without a truck we have to disassemble everything, and can you imagine how much more work that would be to put back together at the house?” Redialing the number for what felt like the hundredth time, Kaede wanted that to be the attempt that made it, so that she wouldn’t be staring down the possibility of needing to rebuild and reorganize Aika’s dresser full of clothes. “Gonta’s got to help us with this.”</p><p>“I’m sure we can find someone else who can snag us a truck for the day,” Himiko offered, knowing that if she said anything about how Gonta was the strong one she’d have an issue to take up with Tenko. “Maybe Kaito or Maki know someone who has one?”</p><p>“They probably do, but do we really want to get them involved right now?” Kaede knew that she hadn’t been told to mention this to either of them, which meant that Shuichi was going to be taking up the mantle on telling them he wouldn’t be staying with them any longer. She saw the look of understanding cross Himiko’s face first, then Tenko’s moments later, and they silently agreed that they were going to take care of things on their own.</p><p>The method they chose was by no means the smartest one, because they could have just waited for Gonta to eventually call them back and endlessly apologize for his inability to answer the phone in a timely manner, nor was it the most fiscally responsible one, because it was a charge Kaede couldn’t front and ended up being paid for by Tenko when they got there. But it was by far the most fun the three of them could have, renting a large truck to carry the crib and dresser in, with Tenko driving it, Himiko driving her car (and everything that didn’t need the big truck, like the sign) to get it back home, and Kaede riding along with whichever one felt they needed her support more. On the way back from the rental place it was Himiko, who had to move the seat of the car up nearly to its furthest point so that her feet could safely touch the pedals, but on the way from the apartment to the house, it was Tenko, who’d realized in the short amount of time she’d been driving the truck by herself that she was not meant for sitting that high up on the roads and needed the moral support.</p><p>It was one of those experiences that, in the moment, seemed like it was a fantastic solution to the problem at hand, but after all was said and done everyone involved regretted it. The moving of the furniture safely was what was most important, but if it had just ended there then there would have been an entirely different story to tell after things were said and done. Tenko had done amazing at getting the crib and dresser from the apartment back to the house without tearing them down or breaking them in transit, but as she was climbing back into the truck to drive it back to the lot, Himiko having already headed out to meet her there, a realization dawned on her. “Question for you, Kaede,” she called out from halfway in the seat, looking at her friend who was standing back where she belonged on her front step. “Is Aika in the house already?”</p><p>“…Now that you mention it, I don’t think she is.” In focusing so much on getting the furniture back in one piece, Kaede couldn’t believe that she’d lost track of where her daughter was, and after scrambling inside to check for any sight of her, she found that there was no little girl to be seen or heard. As she went back out to see Tenko not having moved from her spot, she relayed the news. “She’s not here, which means…Himiko still has her, doesn’t it?”</p><p>“Figures that we’d mess something up in all of this!” Laughing, despite it not really being a laughing matter, Tenko motioned for Kaede to rejoin her in the truck, and after the struggle of getting herself back up into that raised cab without any handles to support her on, they were able to set off to reunite mother and child. The whole drive, Tenko kept going on about how she had been so certain from the start she could’ve done the work by herself, and that they’d proved it with a little bit of outside influence, while Kaede merely hoped that nothing bad had befallen Himiko on her drive, given how rarely she was on the roads herself.</p><p>Exactly as they had known it would go, Himiko was waiting for them at the lot with Aika’s seat still in the back of the car, the girl having fallen asleep somewhere along the ride and not stirring even slightly with all the commotion that occurred when two more people got into the car with her. Kaede was kissing her frozen fingertips (it was once again bitterly cold when they were doing important things, and the jacket she was wearing didn’t have sleeves long enough to cover her hands) and pressing them against the warm face buried in the blankets in the car seat. “Next time we do something like this, I’m not being moral support for you, Tenko,” she said when she heard a faint whine come from under the blankets, followed by soft grunts that signaled Aika awake and stretching. “I’m not leaving Himiko in charge of Aika when there’s cars involved.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t have done it in the first place,” Himiko admitted, calling herself out as a subpar driver in that moment. “It’s only thanks to my magic that everything went well, I was scared out of my mind for most of this.”</p><p>“Then if you don’t mind, I’ll be doing the driving from here on out.” Tenko’s arms were visibly shaking, a strange sight when she wasn’t working out, but between the lifting and the driving of the truck it made sense that she’d be at least a little trembly. “My car, my driving. Let’s get this mama and her baby back to where they belong, then we can start rebuilding our lives to how they’d been before.”</p><p>When they got back to the house and Kaede and Aika were dropped off, together and complete with every last thing that had been left behind, the time to start getting things back to normal was upon everyone. But there was only so much Kaede could do on her own, and even with Shuichi’s help things wouldn’t be fully normal again until their house was complete, but for everyone else? They could easily slip back into their old lifestyles, with the only exception being that during the day they’d have some visitors around. But after the last month, that didn’t seem like it would be much of a problem at all.</p><p><em>twenty-two</em>.</p><p>The ability to move back home, on at least a part-time basis, came at the perfect opportunity, as the following week was Maki’s birthday, and she reveled in not having someone else sleeping over at her place. “It was nice to wake up this morning to Kaito and <em>only</em> Kaito being in there,” she said that evening, after the construction workers had cleared out and she could come over to chat with Kaede and Shuichi before they had a group meal for dinner. “And since he knew it was my birthday, there wasn’t anywhere for him to go, and that made things feel almost normal.”</p><p>“That’s great to hear,” Shuichi told her, genuinely happy that she’d had a great morning without him around. “I’m guessing the two of you got up to some interesting kinds of fun during your time together?”</p><p>“M-maybe,” she quickly replied, covering her face with one hand to try obscuring her blush. “It wasn’t anything dangerous or crazy. He wanted to lead me into his disappointing birthday gift with a bang, I guess.”</p><p>Her ears perking up at the mention of a disappointing gift, Kaede came into the conversation with, “How disappointing could it be? I mean, my gift for Shuichi the year before last was letting him know I was pregnant, and then last year it was getting pregnant, so I’m pretty sure you can’t be in a worse boat than if you were in either of those.”</p><p>Now it was Shuichi’s turn to get red in the face, while Maki was able to laugh about how brutally honest about things Kaede had been just then. “Okay, you’re right, if I was in either of those situations I’d straight-up die, no lies there. But I’d say being given tickets to a space symposium that takes place on his birthday would be a pretty bad gift.”</p><p>“Ouch, I can agree with that,” she conceded, thinking about how she’d feel if when her birthday came around Shuichi gifted her with something his detective mind would appreciate more than she ever could. “I guess I never thought he’d do something like that to you, not after how much he says he loves you.”</p><p>“Whoa there, I do love my Maki Roll very much!” Kaito yelled from across the room, having only partially been listening as he was helping Aika practice walking in tiny, very wobbly steps with her hands wrapped in his own. “I even told her that when my birthday comes around, she’s allowed to make me go to something she’d find interesting that I wouldn’t, just ‘cause that would be what’s fair.”</p><p>Maki nodded, a smirk crossing her lips. “And that was when I told him I’d find a haunted house tour to take him to, because we all know that’s his favorite type of content.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t enjoy that yourself!” he whined, a tremor in his voice that revealed that he didn’t find her comment the least bit humorous. “If you get those tickets, you’re taking someone else, not me!”</p><p>“You’re not seriously considering doing that, are you?” Kaede asked Maki, her eyes bouncing between her friend’s amused expression and Kaito’s growing terrified one. “I don’t think that would be a very smart use of your time or money.”</p><p>“Nah, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ve got two months, there’s plenty of time for me to look into what’ll be around here this summer.” She stretched her shoulders, eventually turning around to look at her husband as he distracted himself with continuing to try to get Aika to take actual steps. “You hear that, Kaito? I’m not going to make you suffer through a bunch of ghost stories.”</p><p>His thankful yelp was endearing, but it was clear he wasn’t fully convinced she was telling him the whole truth right then. “So, did you ever decide where we were going for dinner tonight?” Shuichi asked, trying to steer the subject in a safe direction. “Or are we playing it by finding a place along the side of the road and hoping it’s good?”</p><p>“I don’t know, did you ever find a babysitter so we don’t have to take Aika with us?”</p><p>“Oh, I can answer that!” Kaede would have been bouncing in her seat if she physically could, but the weight of her stomach had her relegated to bobbing her head and shoulders a bit. “I asked Ryoma if he’d stop by and watch her and he said he would, as long as we brought him back some dessert from wherever we go.”</p><p>“If it gets the girl out of your hair so we can have a nice, group meal for a change, I’ll buy him as many desserts as I need to.” Maki paused, giving Kaito a quick glance, before correcting herself, “I mean, I’ll have Kaito buy him as many desserts, since he’s the one paying for everything tonight. Being the birthday girl’s got its perks.”</p><p>They spent the next several minutes trying to come up with a location to have their dinner, ultimately settling on a themed restaurant across town that specialized in European dishes, which sounded just appealing enough to them all to make it worth the drive. Once Ryoma was there and given the rundown of how long they’d be out, what he’d need to do for Aika, and what there was he could do if she fell asleep on him, they all piled into their separate vehicles and set off for the restaurant, promising to wait for the other half of the group when they arrived in case things were busy.</p><p>Since it was an otherwise random Tuesday in February, the restaurant was mostly empty when they arrived, and getting a table was as easy as walking in and asking for one, no waitlist needed. The area they were seated in was relatively quiet, only an older couple taking up a table across the room, so they took their seats and expected things around them to stay as they were, at least for the time being. “I’ve literally never heard of this place before today,” Maki admitted, grabbing a menu and looking it over with a half-sneer on her face. “I only chose it because it sounded interesting, so don’t blame me if it sucks.”</p><p>“European food’s an interesting label for the place to have, given how many different cultures that includes.” Also picking up a menu, Kaito touched several of the offerings, announcing to everyone which cultures they came from, before being politely asked to knock it off by the others at the table. Without even a little shame he accepted their request and continued to tell himself where each food came from.</p><p>“Anyway, ignoring he who wants to show off his multi-cultural talents, there’s a reason I wanted to go somewhere that we’re not familiar with, that being that people here? They shouldn’t be familiar with us.” Her eyes tracking over to the elderly couple eating their meal in peace, Maki focused once more on her friends at the table with a smile. “I know how our meals out can get, and I didn’t want any of us to be called out for bad behavior or something if we went somewhere that we’d go otherwise. Bad behavior, or someone getting calls for the next few weeks asking if she’s okay.”</p><p>“That one’s aimed at me, and I appreciate the thought of preventing that from happening.” It wasn’t that it <em>had</em> happened before, but Kaede was always fearful that when she’d go out somewhere she’d have something happen that would cause a scene or get people’s attention on her. The fact that Maki had picked up on that was strange to her, but she assumed that it was a fear that Shuichi had talked about when she wasn’t around. “The last time we ate out with just us and Aika, she threw such a bad fit that I was pretty sure the manager was going to suspect us of neglect or something, it was horrible.”</p><p>Going back to reading her menu without a hint of regret in what she was about to say, Maki merely replied, “And why do you think I didn’t want her coming out with us? Babies are easy targets for that kind of attention.”</p><p>“We’re not going to discuss that further,” Shuichi interjected, seeing Kaede tense up at how nasty her friend was currently being. “There’s a positive reason we’re out with just the four of us tonight, let’s not ruin it with some catty fighting.”</p><p>“Man, I love hearing my sidekick getting in the middle of these sorts of things,” Kaito remarked, still in the middle of classifying locations for all of the entrées on the menu. “It’s like, wow, you’ve come a long way from being a pushover when we first met, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.”</p><p>“Thanks, but it’s nothing you need to be proud of, I’ve grown into being my own person through my life experiences, not anything you’ve really done for me.” Awkwardly laughing to try to pass it off as a joke, Shuichi wasn’t convincing anyone with his statement, but rather than call him out on it Kaito shook it off and went back to what he’d been doing. “This is going to be a disaster,” he muttered to Kaede, who was still visibly tense. “Maybe we should let Ryoma know we’re headed back sooner rather than—”</p><p>Surprised at what she was hearing, and forgetting that they were trying to not cause a scene even if they were in a room with just one other party, Kaede cut him off at once. “I’m sorry that I’m not going to let us ruin Maki’s birthday dinner when she’s already put in all these stops to make sure that it goes how she wants it to,” she loudly said, before catching her raised voice and covering her mouth, her eyebrows raising in shock at herself. “I-I mean, I’m not going to say anything else!”</p><p>Stifling a laugh at what was going on around her, Maki didn’t seem too bothered by the actual human disasters she’d chosen to spend the meal with. “Let’s just focus less on small-talk and more on ordering food, since that’s why we’re here. I think Kaito’s got it in his head we’re doing a worldwide culture feast and at this point, why not go for it? He’s paying, after all, we can get as much as we want.”</p><p> “Yeah, that sounds like—wait, what?” He’d almost agreed to the idea until the prices he’d been seeing on the menu caught his attention, and Kaito was now firmly against the idea of trying a little bit of all the cuisines of Europe the restaurant claimed to offer. It wasn’t until Shuichi said he’d help front the cost that the idea was pushed through (even though Kaede was against that, given that they were still knee-deep in home renovations and there was a new baby arriving within a few months), and when the waiter came to take their order they had quite the list of things to try.</p><p>Thankfully, the waiter was not new to the restaurant and was able to modify their order to become less of a hassle than they’d initially made it, turning some of the plates into samplers rather than full entrées. It helped with the price, and the table space they were going to run out of otherwise, and while they waited for the first course to come out they fell back into the sometimes-degrading conversations they were always apt to have. Maki would make a disparaging comment about children, Kaede would get offended, and then the men would stop it through banter of their own, which usually ended in Kaito saying something that made them all laugh and forget what had previously been discussed.</p><p>There was one moment that came as a pleasant surprise, though, as it was Maki who approached the topic first. “I haven’t heard much about you playing your piano lately,” she started, her eyes locking on Kaede, who returned the gesture with a gentle head tilt. “I’m sure that’s because you haven’t been home for very long, but the point remains. You make any progress on a song for this new kid yet?”</p><p>“I had a while back, but I’ve lost the feeling for the song I started after…things happened.” Her hand finding its resting place on the side of her stomach, where she’d more often than not feel the kicks of the child within, Kaede’s eyes fell down towards the table. “I wanted this girl’s song to be a lullaby like Aika’s is, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen, or at least, not to the sound of her heart beating.”</p><p>“That’s a shame, the song you wrote for Aika is a nice piece. Definitely shows how much you were looking forward to meeting her. I’m sure you’ll come up with something this time around too.” Maki’s smile was warm for just a moment, before she turned her gaze towards Shuichi and began to frown. “And what have you done that shows your love and affection for these children like she has?”</p><p>“Worked to keep a roof over their heads,” he replied without hesitation, not giving Maki an answer like she was looking for but one that she deserved, while Kaito ribbed her for not knowing that was the place of the father in a child’s life. “No, if Kaede wanted to make the money instead she very well could have, it was just easier this way.”</p><p>Not wanting to bring up that she had tried, when it had come to teaching piano lessons, but the whole thing had blown up right in her face, Kaede merely nodded along to what he was saying, as she enjoyed seeing Kaito get put in his place. “To reply to what you said, Maki, I’m sure I’ll come up with something too, I just have to think beyond the realm of a simple lullaby. Maybe something a bit more stirring? I could incorporate other musical elements into the song, so that it doesn’t feel quite as stale as a rehash of what I’ve already written.”</p><p>“Whatever it is, it’ll be fine, that’s for certain. A musical genius such as yourself doesn’t just fail at writing the song she wants to.” It felt unusual for Maki, of all people, to be talking about writing music and being supportive in Kaede’s quest to have songs for her children, but maybe it was a glimpse of a change of heart she was going through. Keeping that in mind was what got Kaede through the meal, because when the food was delivered and she took a single bite of the first thing handed to her (some meat and dumpling combination), she couldn’t swallow it without feeling like she was about to hack it back up. The idea of disappointing someone who’d just talked about believing in her was not one she wanted to entertain, and so she forced herself to stomach as much of the food as she could, only leaving when the main course was finished to hide out in the bathroom for a while.</p><p>However, Kaede made the mistake of bringing her purse, and more specifically her phone, with her when she left the table, so that when she’d been in there for a while she was getting messages that she knew were coming from the people she’d left. This was the exact sort of thing that Maki had kept in mind when she’d wanted to go somewhere they weren’t going to be recognized, because it was nothing but memorable when the pregnant woman was holing herself up in the single-person bathroom because nothing she’d eaten was agreeing with the baby’s current tastes. At least she didn’t resort to crying as she sat on the tile floor, having fully accepted that this was just her fate when it came to dining out while she was pregnant, something she’d experienced far too many times over the past year and change.</p><p>There was just something about eating anything that wasn’t familiar or homemade that she couldn’t do when she was expecting, and she needed to finally take a stand and mention that to everyone so that, despite their reservations about wanting to go somewhere they frequently went, they’d keep her from wasting all of their money when she’d need to eat again after she got home. Having come to that decision herself, when she felt it was safe to leave the bathroom she headed back to the table, to find only Maki sitting there, an amused expression on her face. “Took you long enough to get back,” she said as Kaede sat in the chair she’d been in before. “You missed the excitement while you were clearing your guts.”</p><p>“What kind of excitement could I have missed?” Looking around the room, Kaede noticed that the elderly couple had left, but their jackets were still on the backs of their seats. “Oh. Oh <em>no</em>. What are you about to tell me?”</p><p>“Grandpa and Grandma over there had an urgent call come in as they were paying their bill, and the cab they’d called wasn’t going to get here fast enough to get them where they were going. So Kaito, ever the kindhearted gentleman, decided to drive them over to the airport to pick up their grandchildren who are flying in as a surprise.” Maki then pointed at where Shuichi had been seated. “Then, not a minute later, he gets a call from Kyoko asking him to meet her down the street to discuss something he wouldn’t tell me anything about, and he’d said he’d be right back. Obviously he wasn’t right back, but I’m sure he’ll get here eventually. Not like either of us can leave without them here.”</p><p>“I thought you were going to tell me that one of them had a heart attack or something and they were playing medical officials to help them out,” Kaede admitted, looking at the jackets and deciding that it really had to have been a surprise decision to go. She hadn’t been outside since they’d come into the restaurant, but she could only assume that it wasn’t exactly the warmest outside. Even with that in mind, she was glad to know that what was going on was overall a positive thing, at least for those older people.</p><p>What was going on with Shuichi, on the other hand, could be anywhere on the spectrum from positive to negative, and she wouldn’t know what was going on until he was back. He did return not long later, looking slightly annoyed but otherwise unbothered, and as he was sitting back down she was failing at not asking him what had happened. He gave Maki a look that told her he knew she’d said something, before he explained as much as he could: “Kyoko wanted to talk to me about something she might need my help with, since it’s not something anyone who works with her at her agency can work on in good faith.”</p><p>“Another drug dealer situation?” Kaede asked, feeling oh-so-helpless as she said those words. If that was the case, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to uproot herself again, and she wanted to be able to make sure Shuichi knew as much. When he shook his head she sighed in relief, feigning wiping sweat from her brow. “That’s good to hear, but what is it then?”</p><p>“I can’t really say, unfortunately, because getting you involved would mean I can’t be on the case if it comes down to it. Kyoko wanted to discuss it with me in neutral territory, as a warning in case my presence is needed for any investigations.” The tone Shuichi was speaking with didn’t seem overly bothered about the topic, which was being done to put Kaede’s mind at ease, without a doubt. “Anyway, Kaito’s still not back yet? Should we wait here for him just in case he forgets he needs to come back at all?”</p><p>“If he forgets about me here he’s dead,” Maki replied without batting an eyelash. “But yes, please wait here with me until he’s back. He’d freak out if he showed back up and I wasn’t waiting for him.”</p><p>When Kaito did return, having not forgotten about Maki or the after-dinner he’d left, he came alone, the elderly couple having been dropped off at their own home with their grandchildren in tow, and the farewells that he exchanged with his friends were brief as he grabbed the couple’s jackets and Maki and headed back out. By that point, Kaede was exhausted and looking forward to bed, and Shuichi clearly had other things on his mind that he needed to focus on, so they were okay with the rather unceremonious ending to their night out. Their arrival back home had Ryoma sitting in a quiet house, reading a magazine he’d brought with him, letting them know that Aika was fast asleep and had been an absolute angel for the evening before he was handed his payment in the form of desserts and went on his way.</p><p>“What a strange ending for all of this,” Kaede said with a yawn as she sat on her side of the bed, kicking blankets out of her way as she got into her sleeping position. “But then again, when it comes to birthdays, are there ever any normal endings?” Shuichi’s laugh was enough to assure her that her comment had landed well, and soon enough she was falling into one of the more restful sleeps she’d had in a long time.</p><p>
  <em>twenty-three.</em>
</p><p>Every day was a new adventure for Kaede and Aika as they had to find things to do that had them out of the house while the construction workers were around. A week after Maki’s birthday dinner they’d attempted to go visit her at home during one of those afternoons where scarcity was needed, but they were met with a door that no one answered knocks on, something strange that hadn’t been expected. “Well, it’s too cold out for us to go to the park,” Kaede decided, looking at how bundled Aika was in her arms as she walked out of the building with her. “I don’t think I want you crawling around on the ground outside when it’s this cold.”</p><p>To give her thoughts on the matter, Aika babbled a couple vaguely word-like noises, before beginning to gnaw on her lips with the few teeth she had. “We could reach out to see if anyone else wants to spend time with you, but other than Maki and maybe Kaito I don’t know who else I have the energy to deal with today.” Having the energy to do anything beyond merely existing was a problem that Kaede was facing almost daily, given that she was having to take care of Aika while also growing another child within herself. The fact that she’d resigned herself to needing to expend energy on Kaito, of all people, was surprising, but she knew that she had to do it sometimes. “I’d love to take you shopping but I couldn’t carry you and any bags, that’s too much for these arms right now.”</p><p>She pursed her lips together in thought as she got out to the car and began buckling Aika into her car seat, the girl continuing to babble off and on as she felt the restraints loop over her shoulders and fasten tightly against her chest. “I know, you want to go out and explore this big, wild world, but your mom’s just too tired to do that right now. We’ll have to do that some other time.” It must have been nice, being Aika and being too young to understand what was being said to her, and for a moment Kaede wished that she could go back to being as carefree in life as her daughter was, but she knew that wasn’t possible. “I suppose we can go to the library and see if they have anything going on there. Free entertainment, and usually they have someone reading stories to the little kids…”</p><p>It wasn’t a perfect decision by any means, but it was a lot better than merely going home (which wasn’t an option, and Kaede knew it) or even driving around thinking about where else they could go. The local library was on the way back to the house from where they were, and all it took was one extra turn to get there versus getting on the road home. As they pulled up, Kaede noticed that there were many cars parked outside, but she was still able to park right near the door so the number of other people there didn’t matter as much to her.</p><p>However, her perspective on her choice was changed when she got Aika out of her seat and carried her inside, only to hear a very familiar, very distinct laugh upon entering. She looked at the person manning the front desk, who seemed unbothered by the noise, and considered asking what was happening as the day’s activity, but she could see that in front of them was a sign that answered that question itself. <em>Creative Science Fair</em>, the sign read in big letters, followed with, <em>brought to you by Ms. Iruma</em>.</p><p>“Miu’s here, how great,” Kaede said, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she thought about how she could get away with hanging out at the library for a while without being noticed by the apparent guest of honor. “At least, with an audience of children, she should lay off of the insults for a while. That, or these poor kids are going to go home with new words in their vocabulary, and I’m sure their parents would appreciate that so much.”</p><p>She was able to get a few steps into the heart of the library before she heard Miu give a dramatic gasp, and right then she knew she’d been spotted. “Well look who it is,” Miu announced, moving away from the tables where eager children had set up their experiments and projects so that she could get closer to Kaede. “What brings you around here? Teaching the gremlin how to read already?”</p><p>“Not yet,” answered Kaede, wanting to avoid as much confrontation as she could right then when she knew there were so many children around. “That’ll be in a year or two, when she’s old enough to understand what’s going on. Right now, we’re here to look for some picture books to read together while we kill some time.”</p><p>“I can suggest a picture book for you.” The statement seemed too good to be true, and Kaede knew it was a low-hanging piece of fruit she was supposed to accept gratefully, so that Miu could come back and insult her with it. By not taking the bait, she merely opened the door for the insult to come out swinging anyway. “It’s called a workout manual, can’t believe that I’m the one having to tell you this given the lame-os you hang out with on the regular, but it has pictures that show you how to fix the ugly you’ve got going on.”</p><p>“Oh, so you haven’t heard then.” Kaede was fully expecting Miu to make some disparaging comment about her size, so she wasn’t as affected by that as she would have been had the encounter been a total surprise and not a foregone conclusion. But she was surprised to see Miu staring at her like she was completely unaware of anything and everything going on in her life, which meant that she was surrounding herself with the right kind of people. “I’d love to follow your advice, but I don’t know if your freak workout suggestions would mesh very well with me being pregnant.”</p><p>The stunned look that took root on Miu’s face was one that would have been worthy of getting a picture, just because it wasn’t every day that Kaede could say she pulled that sort of act off on her. “You let that loser get it in a second time?” she asked, visibly restraining herself when it came to her choice of words. “I’m disappointed in you, your first kid isn’t even cute and you’re having a second one?”</p><p>“Aika’s plenty cute, thank you very much,” she corrected, thankful that Aika wasn’t going to ever know a word of what was being said. “And not only that, but even if she wasn’t cute that doesn’t mean anything about future children. Shuichi and I will make only the most adorable babies we can, and nothing you say can change that.”</p><p>With that, and seeing Miu still struggling with her comebacks, she walked off towards the children’s literature section, her whole body shaking with the exhilarating feeling of coming out on top of one of those spats. Of course, she knew the only reason she had the upper hand was because she was fighting against someone who couldn’t get too graphic or nasty because she was putting on an event for the library, but the small victories were what mattered. She was able to take a seat in a comfy chair near the shelves and, after grabbing a couple books, snuggled Aika tightly to her as she began reading and showing off the pictures, the only disruptions coming by way of Miu’s laugh echoing through the whole building.</p><p>A little while later, when the event was over and the children who’d gathered for it went on their way, Miu came to find her most precious friend and continue what she’d tried to start beforehand. “I hope you know that I meant every word of what I said earlier,” she told Kaede, walking up to her with her work apron covered in mystery fluids and tools sticking out of all of her pockets. “About the kid being ugly and about being disappointed in you letting a loser like Snooze-ichi get it in again.”</p><p>“And I was serious about what I said in return, don’t think I’m going to let your words get to me.” Kaede was far too aware that the only way to beat Miu at her game was to play it back at her, but she didn’t want to stoop to that level. “I’ll ignore everything you’ve said to this point and you can just go, I won’t mind.”</p><p>“P-please, don’t boss me around like that.” Putting on a somewhat aroused expression, Miu was clearly grasping for straws when it came to getting her kicks, and Kaede knew that she was not going to make this easy for survival. “I want you to tell me all about how bad, dirty, disgusting I am, and about how I’m not worth your time and—”</p><p>Having enough of what was being said, when she’d been having such a pleasant and pure time sitting there reading to Aika, Kaede cut her off with, “Look, Miu, I know that’s the stuff you want to hear me say, but I’m not going to do it. I’m not the person you need to turn to when you need some sort of sexual fulfillment, so maybe you need to look into finding yourself a boyfriend or a girlfriend who can practice this weird kink with you.”</p><p>“—yes, please, keep saying stuff like that, you’re going to get me all flustered.” The look of almost rapture on Miu’s face was painful to watch in real-time, and Kaede would have easily left if she wasn’t effectively stuck in that chair with Miu hovering over her. “I need someone who’s as dirty and depraved as you to talk down to me, all day every day.”</p><p>“Excuse me, when did I ever say that I was anything like you? Just because I’m married and have someone who <em>loves</em> me and will do whatever I want them to do for me, it doesn’t mean that I’m in the same boat as you. I’d never ask Shuichi to say half the nasty things you expect someone to say to you.” It was true, as Kaede had made sure that her relationship was built on mutual love and respect, and no matter what was going on in their lives they never weaponized insults to get a sexual reaction. “Find someone else to do this for you, because I’m not interested.”</p><p>“It’s so hard to find anyone, not like you’d know that.” Turning around, Miu began to fiddle with her goggles on her forehead, as a way to distract herself from what was being said. “I don’t have any friends, I spend my time either being family-friendly working events like this science fair, or I’m in my lab getting my brains blasted by my robot of the week.”</p><p>Grimacing at being given a mental image she hadn’t asked for, Kaede saw that Miu’s back being turned to her was a means to escape, but she stayed put because she decided she was going to try killing her with kindness one more time. “You know, Miu, we’d invite you around with us if you weren’t so gross all the time. Shuichi and I would gladly let you into our home for dinners and game nights and stuff like that, but you’d turn it into an insult-fest where you want to get off to whatever we’re telling you. That’s not the kind of life we want to lead, and because it is the one you want, we don’t want you there.”</p><p>“I can change though,” Miu pleaded, turning back around as she pulled her now-cleaned goggles down over her eyes and crossing them behind the cheap plastic. “Unlike you and your weak insults. Your tongue’s gotten soft, just like the rest of you.”</p><p>“And that right there’s why we don’t want anything to do with you, but I don’t think you care,” Kaede grumbled, wishing that she had taken the opportunity to escape when it had been presented to her. “I’m just saying, if you worked on not being so disgusting when you talk to others, you might actually have friends who want to care about you. Instead, you’ve got robots that you build solely to please you, and is that really the life you want to lead?”</p><p>“My big Keebo unit is almost as good as a real person ever could be, minus giving me the dirty talk I want. I’ll have to look into giving him as sharp of a tongue as the one you used to have, before you decided being some boy’s plaything was the best use of your time.” Miu gave Kaede a rude gesture with both hands before chortling, throwing her head back and sending her goggles flying into the shelf behind her, and she scurried off to collect those and get on with her day.</p><p>Blinking a couple times as she made sure that she understood what had just happened was real and that she hadn’t imagined it, Kaede looked down at Aika, who was in the middle of blowing a gigantic spit bubble that popped all over her face and her mother’s hand. “Whatever you do, when you grow up, you better not become anyone even sorta like Miu, or we’re going to have some serious talks about being a good person,” she said, bouncing Aika to get her to giggle. “I mean it, though. You and your sister both are going to grow up being respectful and having as normal of turn-ons as you can possibly have, and if either of you so much as think about finding being talked down to attractive…”</p><p>She trailed off as she realized how weird her current conversation was, and she decided that then was as good a time as any to head home and forget that anything had happened there at the library. But as she passed through the glass doors to leave, the person at the desk wishing her a good day, she saw a distorted version of her reflection and realized that maybe Miu had been right, and that her tongue had grown as soft as the rest of her—but that was a thought she squashed at once. She was growing a tiny human, she had all the excuses in the world to be getting softer all over, and if that was a problem with one person, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t a problem with her, and her opinion was the one that was paramount.</p><p>
  <em>twenty-four.</em>
</p><p>Valentine’s Day was a traditionally romantic holiday, most definitely, but that year instead of focusing on each other and what they could do to shower the other in affection, Shuichi and Kaede decided that they would skip on gifts for each other and instead do something for Aika, and only for Aika. Of course, given that she was still just a baby, that meant that it was going to be a relatively easy holiday to worry about.</p><p>In typical Kaede fashion, the night got its start with some live piano music with her family as the audience, her playing exclusively Aika’s Lullaby until her hands grew tired of the tune, then she switched to some other soothing melodies she was familiar with playing. While she was doing that, Shuichi was holding the girl in his lap, having her bounce and sway along with the music for as long as he could before she started getting fussy. The moment she wanted to start squirming and wanting to move around, he jumped up from the couch and began having her practice walking, her small hands gripping onto his fingers for dear life as she worked with unsteady legs to slowly cross the room.</p><p>“You know, someday she’s going to start walking and we’re not going to be ready for it,” Kaede remarked, seeing what Shuichi and Aika were doing from the corner of her eye as she continued playing her piano. “I think we’re going to have to make a lot of changes around here when she’s able to walk.”</p><p>“Well, by then we’ll have a spare room to move things into, so we’ll be able to take advantage of that. I don’t expect her to start walking before that’s finished,” he said with a laugh, carefully letting go of Aika’s hands and watching as the girl fell promptly on her bottom, looking up at her father like she had no idea what had just happened. “She is getting rather skilled at crawling, though,” he added, as she threw herself forward and began to hurriedly crawl around the room, laughing as she made circles in between Shuichi’s legs and around his feet. “Which, uh, I still can’t believe she’s this big.”</p><p>“Not just that she’s that big, but that she’s so smart and good at things and she’s going to be such a loving big sister when the time comes.” Her hands finally stopping playing completely, Kaede spun herself around on the piano bench, her hands idly resting themselves on top of her stomach as she was able to give the other two her full and undivided attention. “And that’s why we’re doing this for her today, because she deserves to get this special kind of treatment while it’s still just her around.”</p><p>“Only a few months until it’s not, and she has no idea what’s going to be happening to change her life forever.” Choosing to sit down on the floor with one of Aika’s toys in hand to try and call her attention back to him and not to exploring the house, Shuichi found himself being rammed into almost immediately by a girl who recognized the sound of her rattling toy. “It’s going to change all of our lives. Already has, really.”</p><p>Kaede nodded, knowing for a fact that if they weren’t in their current position, they would have spent Valentine’s Day a bit differently. “Sometimes I just kind of think about how this time last year we were waiting kind of impatiently to get to meet Aika, and now we know her and we’re waiting to meet her sister instead, and it’s just like…wow, time really blows right by you, doesn’t it?”</p><p>“It does, and this isn’t anything I would have expected us to be facing like we have. If it’d been up to only me, we’d be spending this year with only Aika, but things happened and we’re here now.” The almost sheepish look on Shuichi’s face let Kaede know that he wasn’t blaming either of them for the decision they’d made together, but rather expecting them both to shoulder the burden of knowing they were responsible. “At least they’ll both know they’re beyond loved, and they’ll always have each other to rely on.”</p><p>“Aika’s going to be such a great sister, I already know it.” Watching the girl pull herself up on her father’s back, then move around him to his lap, where she grabbed her toy and began chewing on it at once, Kaede felt like she didn’t really have a way to justify what she’d said, but she knew that she was speaking the truth. There was no way that her children weren’t going to get along as well as they possibly could, given how close in age they were going to be, and she was certain that they’d grow up to be the best friends they could possibly be, unless… “Ah, damn it, I’m cr-crying.”</p><p>“What’s wrong?” Concerned, Shuichi tried to not let Aika’s playing distract him from focusing on his wife’s sudden burst of emotion. “Did something happen? Do we need to call someone to watch Aika, or get you to bed, or what?”</p><p>She felt her jaw tremble as she tried to explain what had started bothering her, but wasn’t able to pull together the words she needed to do so. Her hands, which had been interlaced on her stomach, raised and separated as she tried to use those to help her get the words out, but when she was still unable to speak she grew frustrated, the tears coming on harder. Knowing that she was clearly struggling, Shuichi gently pushed Aika aside so that he could stand up and join Kaede on the piano bench, giving her a gentle shoulder rub once he was there with her.</p><p>“I’m just so ha-a-appy that Aika’s going to have a sister that she’s going to get to love on and be there for and care about no matter what,” Kaede managed to say, feeling rather dramatic as she did, but she felt like she could be vulnerable in that moment. “I’m not going to do anything to split them, or make them hate each other, or make them act like the other doesn’t exist, and there’s nothing you can do to make me do that.”</p><p>“What are you…” His voice trailing off as he connected the dots that were being placed in front of him, Shuichi began merely hugging her instead of giving her the reassuring, comforting rub he had been. “Kaede, how long have you been struggling with these thoughts? This is about your sister, isn’t it?”</p><p>There were many things that she didn’t really talk about, her family being the biggest one, as they’d completely cut her off when she’d chosen to marry Shuichi instead of become a world-traveling pianist, but even deeper locked in her mind were positive thoughts about her younger twin sister. Calling them “twins” was already incorrect, as they may have shared a birthday and been born in the same hospital, but the younger girl had not been her parents’ and had been taken in by them due to the biological mother wanting nothing to do with her. Kaede had known her whole life that the girl she was raised with wasn’t her sister by blood, but had tried to ignore that and build a relationship with her as if they’d been of the same womb anyway; her sister had grown up knowing that Kaede was the favorite, that Kaede could do no wrong, and that all of the family’s hopes and dreams rested on her pianist shoulders, which was then thrown away in the name of love.</p><p>She couldn’t remember the last time she’d spoken to her sister, which had been years before she’d gotten married, probably around the time they’d graduated from different schools going in completely different directions. Her sister was not considered talented by any means, barely graduating as she didn’t see a reason for doing so, and their parents had made it painfully obvious that they were not pleased with her decisions she’d made, which had only thrust Kaede higher onto a pedestal she never asked for. They were banking on her becoming rich and famous, traveling the globe over for adoring fans and record deals, and she gave that all up when she decided to follow her heart instead of her wallet. The last time she’d spoken to her parents was her birthday the year before, which they’d almost ruined with their unwanted conversation, and she felt that their parenting of her and her sister both had been the reason why she was <em>fine</em> with them being out of her life.</p><p>“I don’t want these girls to grow up competing like we did,” she said after giving it as much thought as she could manage, her tear-rimmed eyes watching as Aika chewed contently on the face of her toy. “I want them to follow their paths, with our full support, and I want them to know that we love them both equally, no matter who’s older or who does better at one thing over another. I’m not letting them lose each other like my parents let me lose my sister, and I’m not letting them lose us.”</p><p>“As long as we’re here for them, that’s what matters,” Shuichi replied, his eyes also beginning to fill with tears at how emotional his wife was about things. “I mean, I spent most of my life being an afterthought for my parents, to the point that my uncle took me in and changed my path forever, so if we’re here for them they’ve already got more than I did, and if we love them without comparison they’ll have more than you did too.”</p><p>“I’m glad you see things my way.” They weren’t going to make the same mistakes their parents had with both of them, and they were going to do everything they could to make sure that Aika and her sister got to live the best lives they possibly could. That was the point of their at-home Valentine’s Day, to shower their daughter with all the love they had, to let her know that they were there for her, and to make sure that her life was never once empty of all the beautiful, happy things that her parents wanted to give to her. The beautiful little girl, with dark blue hair and golden eyes that shone like the morning sun, would never stop being the most important thing in her parents’ lives, and when her sister joined them she’d be just as important as well. There was no room for competition and comparison under the roof of the Saihara house, no matter what the girls decided they wanted to be as they grew up, and that was a promise both Kaede and Shuichi intended to keep for eternity.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>twenty-five</em>.</p><p>A little over three weeks later, the work on the house was finished and the construction crews were finally gone, allowing for the family to be at home as much as they wanted to be each day. That sense of choice came at the exact time it needed to, because it was beginning to become more difficult for Kaede to willingly drag herself out of the house every day, and she was looking forward to not needing to do it unless necessary. She was still going to need to leave more frequently than she would have preferred, but some things couldn’t be helped and she was begrudgingly accepting of that.</p><p>The time when they had to leave every day ended not a moment too soon, as the very next morning after they’d been given the all-clear to not need to leave, a brand new problem presented itself for Kaede. She’d had a fitful night of sleep, unable to get comfortable with how the baby had shifted slightly lower than she’d been before, which had resulted in a lot of needing to get up and run to the bathroom before coming back to bed and finding it impossible to find a position that she could fall into a deep sleep in. Then, when morning came and Shuichi was awake getting ready for work, she reluctantly decided she’d get up as well and sleep again whenever Aika did, but that was when the disaster struck.</p><p>At some point in the night, she’d gotten frustrated with needing to constantly take off her pajama bottoms, and had discarded them on the path between the bed and the bathroom, but in order to leave the room she figured it would look bad if she was out roaming the house in a shirt that had formerly been a nightgown. That meant picking them up (a task she had Shuichi do for her, as she was beginning to feel limited in how accessible anything on the floor was to her) and putting them back on, and it was the second part that became problematic when the elastic in the waistband of the pants gave out on her with a snap, and she was left holding the now-useless pants in her hands, them up around her thighs when they gave out.</p><p>Her reaction was to laugh fearfully for a moment, as she slid them back off of her legs and let them rest on the floor again, while Shuichi looked at her without any idea of what had just happened. “I wore those the last few weeks I was pregnant with Aika, but apparently they’re not going to see me through the end of this one,” she explained, toeing at the pants as she tried not to laugh again. “I think this means I’m going to need new pajama pants, or maybe some more nightgowns that are longer, and…yeah, probably some real pants, too.”</p><p>“I don’t know how that’s possible, but we’ll find a way to get you what you need. Can it wait until I get home later, though? I’m already starting to run late…” If anything, it was nice that Shuichi was supportive, even though he couldn’t do what he needed to right then. Kaede accepted his reasoning for why he couldn’t right then, but the moment he headed off and promised her he’d come home with some new things for her to wear if she’d send him the sizes, she was breaking down into tears.</p><p>The walk to the closest mirror felt humiliating, as she was hyper-aware of every inch of herself as she moved, her walk having long been a waddle that she couldn’t ignore. “I don’t think that it’s anything to do with my stomach,” she said, taking in her whole reflection to place judgment on what was causing her problems. “I know for a fact that I was bigger than this when I had Aika, even though I’m pretty sure I’m getting close to that size.” She turned to look at herself in profile, cringing when she saw the roundness to her lower half, her hips, rear, and thighs feeling like they’d doubled in size since the last time she’d been pregnant. “I might be guessing here, but I think the fact that these are starting to look more like tree trunks than legs might be why I’m busting through my pants,” she lamented, taking in the dappled, occasionally stretch-marked skin with a frown. “But I don’t think I’m doing anything different to myself this time…”</p><p>She wanted to ignore the fact that she’d been spending just about every day over the past month eating takeout for lunch, as well as the fact that the physical activity she’d been doing was limited at best. It was definitely her own choices that were resulting in the changes she wasn’t happy with, but she felt almost helpless to stop them at that point. “Oh well,” she conceded, turning to face the mirror head-on and giving it the biggest smile she could muster before heading to find something else to wear. “I’ll make what I’ve got going for me work, and if all else fails, I’m going to just be the curviest mom these girls could ever want.”</p><p>Her closet, thankfully, was full of clothes that were more forgiving than those pants had been, and she was able to slip into a different pair that fit her thicker legs snug, but comfortable enough to be worn all day. It was only moderately problematic that she was wearing more pants that she’d worn when in the last weeks of her first pregnancy, whereas she was just about twenty-nine weeks pregnant this time; the happy occurrence that the tops of the pants were way too big and that she was wearing them solely for the leg room was something she could take slight solace in.</p><p>Kaede knew that her friends would be nothing but disappointed in her acceptance of her developing curves, but she’d accepted them and there was nothing they could do to take that away from her. If she was going to make herself happy to look the way she did, they weren’t going to be allowed to strip her of that self-acceptance, and that wasn’t something she was going to budge on. Especially not when she made her way into Aika’s room and was met with the girl sitting up in her crib, her face lighting up at the sight of her mother—knowing that this was the her Aika (and the new baby) would grow up adoring and loving made that self-acceptance come just a bit easier.</p><p>So that evening, after Shuichi came home with a bag of clothes he’d stopped and bought on his way back, Kaede told him about her mindset going forward and he was understanding enough about it. “As long as you’re healthy and it doesn’t impact your ability as a mother, I think you can look however you’d want to,” he told her, watching as she was modeling the different clothes he’d bought with a smile. “You’ve been beautiful this whole time and you’ll stay being beautiful for the rest of your life, I’m glad you’re not going to force yourself to look one way just because you think you ‘need’ to.”</p><p>The flattery was enough to get Kaede blushing, but not enough for her to think he was lying to her in any way. “I’ll look exactly how life wants me to, or how life needs me to,” she said, gesturing to her stomach, which was rather well-masked in the pants she was trying on. “I think what matters now is that I’m doing what’s best for my children, not what I think I need to be doing for myself.”</p><p>“Just don’t take that as an excuse to not take care of yourself,” he reminded her. “The last thing we need is something bad happening to you because you’re putting everyone else before yourself.”</p><p>
  <em>twenty-six.</em>
</p><p>Contrary to anything that Shuichi might have feared would happen with Kaede’s newfound mindset, she was going to make sure that if anything happened, it happened to her and not to anyone else around her, just to protect everyone that she loved. That was trickier then than it would have been had she come to that decision months beforehand, but she was still going to do her best to make sure that nothing bad befell her family, and if it did that she took the brunt of whatever it was.</p><p>She was able to make good on her word of wanting to do what was best for her children not quite two weeks later, when she was home alone (or, more specifically, without Shuichi) for the first night since before Aika had been born. He’d explained it the day before he left, that he was getting taken out of town to investigate a non-payment that should have been made to an organization that Kyoko wasn’t able to investigate on the behalf of, and that he’d be gone from early morning one Friday to late the next night, so only one overnight. “It’s stupid that she’s taking you along for this,” Kaede grumbled when she’d heard the news, knowing that Kyoko was quite aware of their home life at the moment. “Couldn’t she have grabbed your uncle, or someone else who doesn’t work with her?”</p><p>“She could have, but she felt that me knowing enough about Hope’s Peak and how it runs without ever having benefitted from its services as an employee would give me some leverage against this guy. Apparently this has been an investigation years in the making, but Kyoko hasn’t been able to order it because the headmaster hasn’t wanted it to happen until there were no options left.” He seemed disappointed in knowing he had to go, and his disappointment was resonating strongly within Kaede’s heart. They ended up staying up far later than they should have that night, talking about what would happen while he was gone and him assuring her that there was no danger he’d be in on the trip, because he knew that was going to be her biggest worry.</p><p>When she did fall asleep, it was only for a short amount of time before the regular nightly routine kicked in, this time with her knowing that one of the times she’d wake up to find the other half of the bed cold and empty; when that time came she couldn’t bring herself to even try falling back asleep for a while, until sleep overtook her without her consent. Waking up from that, she was surprised to see it was getting closer to noon than she ever was allowed to sleep in, and she hadn’t been woken up by the sound of Aika crying over the monitor, which was still turned on and nestled against the headboard of the bed. A moment of panic rose within Kaede’s body, concerned that she’d slept through her daughter being abducted, and as fast as she could she was in the nursery investigating the scene for herself.</p><p>Aika was in her crib, laying face-down on the mattress (which was unusual for her, as she’d never taken to staying on her stomach long once she’d mastered rolling over), and when Kaede reached in to grab her she felt like her skin was ablaze. “Oh no, you can’t be getting sick,” Kaede said as she carefully lifted the girl, more worried about straining herself than doing anything to Aika, and when she was looking into the girl’s face she saw that she was very much unwell, her nose red and her eyes half-lidded. “What’s happening to you? Why are you getting sick the one time your father’s not here to help me?”</p><p>The girl took in a shaky breath in response, her body sounding like it was struggling to get the air in, and the panic that had initially subsided when she’d seen that she was still there came back with force, almost knocking Kaede off of her feet with how hard it hit her. She was starting to take in shallow breaths of her own, quickly on the way to hyperventilating, when she realized that getting worked up was not going to do anything to help Aika. “I’ll see if I can find any ways to fix this,” she decided, carrying Aika into the big bedroom and laying her on the bed while she grabbed her phone to begin scouring the internet for any quick solutions to a baby having a cold.</p><p>Kaede quickly discovered that for every minor symptom that she could visually tell Aika was suffering from, there were several dozen treatment options, most of which would require a trip to the store to purchase some child-safe medications. “I mean, I could do that, but that would mean taking you with me, and I’m not sure how comfortable driving would be anymore…” She bit her lip as she ran through some of the other options she’d seen be repeated, deciding that she’d try some of the so-called homeopathic remedies and hope that the doctor would be able to see them come Monday morning, when Shuichi was there to drive them to the appointment.</p><p>For the rest of the day Kaede felt that she was walking on eggshells, her whole life resting on the reliability of some wives-tales and some cold treatments that mothers on all sorts of forums and message boards swore up and down by. She never once noticed Aika looking any better, nor did she ever sound any better, and by the time darkness fell the girl was rasping every time she tried breathing, her whole body shivering with fever no matter how many blankets or pairs of socks she had on her, and she hadn’t taken in but a couple sips of a bottle (she’d refused to latch entirely, which would have been a reason for celebration if it hadn’t come because she was ill), no matter how many times one was brought to her lips.</p><p>Knowing that she was not going to be able to get any sleep that night with Aika feeling as bad as she did, she was resigning herself to a night spent on the couch with her feverish baby in her arms, but the world had other plans. When that fever began to climb even higher, reaching numbers that Kaede had seen as dangerous for a baby to get to, no matter the reason, she knew that her treatments had done nothing to curb the symptoms and she was now faced with a minor emergency. If she let things continue as they were, she could accidentally allow for serious damage to be done to Aika’s body, if not lead her right to her death, but if she wasn’t comfortable with driving during broad daylight, going anywhere after dark was out of the question as well.</p><p>Her options were limited, and she wasn’t going to call Shuichi and get him worried about things he couldn’t control back home just to see what option he’d go with. Given the time, she felt that calling Tenko and having her assist with things wouldn’t work, because Tenko was an early riser and would resent being woken up at such a late hour. Himiko wouldn’t work because it would be calling into the same apartment, and even though Himiko would still be awake she wasn’t exactly eager to have to ride in a car with her again. Maki was another night owl, but Kaede knew far too well that calling her asking for help relating to a child would get her a nasty attitude thrown back at her face. As far as she knew, Ryoma still had to be back home by a certain time of night, so he wasn’t available, and Kirumi and Gonta both wouldn’t be good choices for many reasons, mostly the accessibility aspect.</p><p>Staring down the threat of something nasty happening to her daughter, Kaede found the one contact in her phone that she felt would be willing to help her out right then and made the call—only for someone else she wasn’t looking to speak to picking up. “What do you want from us this late?” Maki asked, clearly annoyed. “We’re watching a movie and Kaito’s hiding under a pillow, is this important?”</p><p>“Uh, yes, it is,” she replied, trying not to make it seem too obvious that she was panicking yet again. “I need Kaito to come over and help me out.”</p><p>“What, am I not good enough for you?”</p><p>“It’s about Aika, so I figured maybe he’d be more willing to do it.” She could hear Maki muttering something under her breath for a moment, before she heard rustling, followed by Kaito announcing that he was on the line. “H-hey, Kaito, are you up for driving over here to help me get Aika to the doctor?”</p><p>He repeated the question out loud, Maki telling him to shut up and answer it quietly, before he gave his response. “I can do that, sure, but where’s Shuichi? Shouldn’t he be doing that sort of thing as the man of the house?”</p><p>“He’s out of town tonight for work. Of all the times for this to happen, right?” Her laugh was very shaky, and she hoped that Kaito was believing her without needing too much more in the way of explanation, because it felt like every moment passing was a moment wasted in getting Aika the help she needed. “I’d just call an ambulance, but I don’t think I could handle being there by myself while she’s this sick.”</p><p>“Oh no, I definitely get you! Lemme slip some real clothes on and I’ll be over there as soon as I can be!” She heard Maki yell something about him sharing too much information right as the call ended, and she let out a withheld breath she’d been holding the moment she’d bared all and told him why she was making this request. Her track record of getting along with Kaito might not have been the greatest, but she knew that he was a good guy deep down and he wanted to do what was best for everyone he knew, just like she wanted.</p><p>True to his word, he was over as fast as possible, which might have been a bit quicker than the speed limits would have allowed but it was nighttime and Kaito knew there was an emergency on their hands. He knocked quietly on the door, which Kaede answered at once, letting him in to see her dressed and ready to go, with Aika sitting in her car seat looking like her whole face was glazed over from her fever. “I’m impressed you remembered to put all your clothes on,” she told him with a smirk, letting him know that she’d heard what Maki had at least started saying. “Movie too boring for you to focus on?”</p><p>“A smart man never wears pants when he’s watching a cheesy romance movie with his wife, just in case she finds it more boring than he does and wants to liven things up,” Kaito replied with a wink, Kaede’s smirk turning into a single, forced laugh as she smiled for the first time all day. “But this is no time for me to be sharing my wisdom with you, let’s get her in the car and get someone looking at her. She’s gotta be really sick for you to be this worried.”</p><p>“Definitely, I was hoping she’d be fine until I can get her an appointment at her doctor, but she got worse once it started getting dark, and…” Kaede’s voice trailing off as she watched Kaito take control and grab the car seat, heading for the door without questioning anything, she made sure she had everything she needed for the night and followed him out the door. He’d parked behind her car, and the fact that it was sitting there didn’t even seem to cross his mind as being strange, not even when they were driving off. Still, she felt like she needed to explain why she hadn’t driven anywhere herself, but the moment she started he raised a hand to her and gave her a gesture to hush herself.</p><p>“If it’s about why you needed me to do this, I don’t wanna hear it. You already told me you didn’t wanna go alone, and I know my sidekick would support me being the one being there with you, so what else is there to explain?” He dropped his hand and glanced at her, seeing her face scrunch up as she tried to come up with a response. “I just read your mind, didn’t I? Maybe if the whole space thing never pans out, I can get into the field of mind reading. I’m sure I could make lots of money doing that.”</p><p>“I’m sure you could, but…geez, you didn’t need to remind me I haven’t told Shuichi a thing about Aika getting sick!” It was true, she still hadn’t let him know anything, and her intention was to not do so until he’d gotten home and therefore couldn’t freak out when there’d be nothing he could do. Kaito seemed surprised to hear that being said, but he accepted it as quickly as he’d accepted needing to be there in the first place. “I just hope there’s not a lot of people in the waiting room when we get there. I know it’s a Friday night and the drunks always end up in the emergency room after the bars close, but I hope we’re beating that rush by at least a little bit.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, I’m sure the moment people see you’re there looking like you’ve smuggled in a watermelon and carrying a baby with you, they’ll all let you get in before them.” Kaito was definitely pleased he’d managed to say that without getting slugged for it, even though Kaede was considering hitting him to show her displeasure. But she chose not to, if only because she wanted to believe that he wasn’t just making possibilities up and that he’d be right on the matter, despite her knowing that he wasn’t going to be.</p><p>On one hand, when they did get into the late-night lobby for the emergency room, there were just a couple people waiting in there, but on the other, the receptionist looked bored with life and didn’t seem to care about the age or predicament of the patient coming in. “We’ll let you know when it’s your turn to go back, have a seat and we’ll call your name,” the man said, almost flippantly, and it struck a nerve in Kaede’s heart to be spoken to with so little care. It clearly bothered Kaito as well, as he seemed poised to start an argument about it, but she got him to follow her to the closest set of chairs and sit down without causing a scene at the counter.</p><p>“So much for your hopeful thinking,” she said as she unbuckled Aika from her seat and began holding her, taking note of how warm she still was. “I’m sure we’re going to be waiting here for hours at this point, and it’s only going to get worse when the bloodied drunks stumble in after closing.”</p><p>“It’s going to be fine, I guarantee it!” Kaito proclaimed, raising his voice and catching the attention of just about everyone else in the room, disgusted looks being shot his way by people who were not eager to be in their current position. “I…mean, if it gets worse, they’ll have to let you go back sooner rather than later. They wouldn’t let a kid die in the waiting area, you know that.”</p><p>She did know that, but just hearing him verbalize that it was a possibility (albeit an unlikely one) that Aika could die was not something she’d been wanting, and she gripped the girl a bit tighter. “I’m sorry, but can you maybe not say things like that right now? I’m already freaking out enough as is, I don’t want to be reminded that things could get worse.”</p><p>“Sorry ‘bout that, it kinda slipped from my mouth before I could stop it.” He kicked his legs up onto the back of the chair in front of him, sliding down in his seat until he looked comfortable enough, then chuckled to himself. “Hey, I wonder if I fell asleep right here if they’d kick me out for loitering or something.”</p><p>“Kaito, please, if you get kicked out then I’m going to lose my mind waiting here by myself,” she reminded him, watching as he processed her reasoning and then sat back up in his seat, shaking his head at one of the other patients in the area. “I’m going to give it half an hour, and if we’re still sitting here then, then I’ll—” She found herself being drowned out by an immediate bout of Aika crying, the girl completely inconsolable in an instant and not stopping her fussing for anything. This did nothing but irritate the people in the lobby further, to the point that the receptionist actually left the desk, a nurse coming out minutes later with a thermometer and some fever-reducing medicine to give as an offering.</p><p>It did help with calming Aika down, but it didn’t do enough to keep her from wheezing and rasping when she took in her shallow breaths, which had not been helped at all by her crying at the top of her lungs. Even based on touching her forehead it didn’t seem to lower her temperature all that much, but Kaede knew that the back of her hand was an imperfect measurement and she’d get more answers when they were back in the exam room. Over the following hour (she gave it that long because they’d been treated before being called back), a couple of the others who’d been waiting got to go see doctors, and the waiting area filled up three times as full as it had been with new patients looking for a late-night exam.</p><p>Kaito was beginning to get antsy as he saw some of the people coming in, rough around the edges and looking like they’d been in fights before they showed up at the front desk, but he wouldn’t tell Kaede his thoughts on the kind of riffraff that were entering. She could tell just by seeing his darting eyes and his hands gripping his knees that these were the kinds of people that he heard stories about from Maki with her line of work, and he was going to try to protect her and Aika from having to deal with them. It was hopefully going to be an unnecessary need, but she wasn’t going to tell him that and make him worry that she was thinking of the same things he was.</p><p>After another half hour the nurse who’d initially checked Aika’s temperature came over and escorted them back to a check-in room, getting all of the preliminary information about the small patient before getting her taken down to a pediatrics room on an upper floor of the hospital. “It’s not that she’s going to be here long-term,” the nurse explained as they rode in the elevator up, “but rather that there’s going to be equipment better suited to someone her size. She’s about ten months, isn’t she?”</p><p>“That’s right,” Kaede answered, adjusting how she was holding Aika to try and make how pregnant she currently was a little less obvious. “So, um, thank you for keeping that in mind when giving her a room.”</p><p>“We want the best care for our patients.” With a smile, the nurse waited for the doors to open before they were headed down to the first room on the floor with an open door, taking them in and setting up the bed for someone Aika’s size. “Go ahead and lay her down, and then have a seat for yourselves. A doctor will be in to see her shortly.”</p><p>Thanking her, Kaede did as she was told and then moved one of the chairs to be right next to the bed’s side, while Kaito sat in the other one and pulled out his phone to distract himself for the time being. “This feels so wrong to be here right now,” she admitted, keeping one hand wrapped around one of Aika’s while the other tried to find something else to do, be it twirl unkempt hair or rest on the chair’s armrest. “I’d expected the next time I’d be in a hospital would be when this baby’s born, not months beforehand.”</p><p>“Sometimes weird things happen like that,” Kaito replied, not looking up from his phone’s screen. “Not like we really want things like this to happen, but sometimes a kid just ends up getting sick and needing some serious care.”</p><p>“I’m hoping she isn’t that sick, but you’re right either way.” There was something about Kaito’s tone that was unnerving to Kaede, as if he knew something she didn’t, but she shook it off as them both being tired and uprooted from their lives to be there in that moment. The doctor and an assistant did come in not but a few minutes later, brandishing all the tools they deemed necessary to diagnose what was going on, and while it was genuinely painful to watch Aika get poked and prodded, Kaede knew that it was necessary for the best care. The girl didn’t seem fazed even slightly by some of the devices that touched her skin or wrapped around her body, and the only thing that made her react was when they opened her mouth to check her throat, but as soon as the medical team left she was back to being in a half-awake state, too feverish to fall asleep but too medicated to cry about it.</p><p>The room was silent after that, barring the faint sounds of machines coming from elsewhere in the building and the occasional finger tapping on a phone screen; Kaede couldn’t find it in herself to try talking to Kaito when he was clearly mentally occupied with something else, and he was enthralled with whatever he had going on with his phone. When the nurse popped back in to let them know that everything seemed to be coming back normal, meaning that Aika was just suffering through a rather nasty cold that needed typical medication to treat, it felt like a weight was lifted off of Kaede’s chest, but before she could ask about what that meant, Kaito was interrupting her. “So you mean she was burning up that badly and it wasn’t some life-threatening disease eating her from the inside?” he asked, adding, “Or not even some medical mystery that you haven’t actually got an answer for? It’s just something painfully normal?”</p><p>“Kaito, what are you going on about?” Kaede said to him, confused about his outburst but nowhere near as concerned as the nurse was, as he shifted uncomfortably right inside the doorway. “Ignore him, he’s a family friend I brought along for moral support and—”</p><p>“I’m just curious about how we know she’s not going to be saddled with some health condition that’s going to haunt her for the rest of her life, that’s all.” His interruptions were not ending, and the nurse had to leave the room because he had no idea how to address what was being thrown at him. When Kaito saw the glare that Kaede was giving him for what he’d done, he tucked his phone into the pocket of his jacket and explained, “Look, I’m sure you’re thinking I’ve gone off the deep end, but trust me when I say I asked all that for your sake.”</p><p>She huffed, giving a small whine as she tried to mentally organize what all there was that she wanted to say to him. “And what kind of help do you think you’re giving me, badgering the poor nurse who was only here to help Aika? As far as I know, I’m not going to be told what I need to do to keep her temperature down and help her beat this cold, and that’s all because you decided you wanted to jump in with medical conspiracies!”</p><p>“Not conspiracies,” he asserted, standing up to look slightly intimidating, before walking over to grab one of Aika’s feet and hold it up. “A conspiracy would’ve been me asking if putting vegetables on the bottoms of her feet under her socks would make her feel better. I’m asking the questions that my parents were too scared to ask when I was a kid.”</p><p>All of the anger that had began to boil up in Kaede’s soul dissipated when she heard him mention his parents, knowing that was easily more of a sour subject than her talking about her own parents was. “I didn’t know…” she started, watching him let go of Aika’s foot and take back his chair. “Seriously, you’ve never brought that up before, how was I supposed to know that you ranting and raving at the nurse had anything to do with them?”</p><p>“They almost let me die because they accepted that me being sick was ‘just a cold’ and not anything more,” Kaito said, turning his head away so that Kaede could only see the back of his hair, which had fallen flat from its usually high spikes. “It was only thanks to my grandparents noticing I’d gone blue one day that anything was ever done, and they fought to get me out of my parents’ care for that. Clearly it worked, but at the cost of me living in a room like this for months as they had to clean out my chest from all the infections I’d developed while sick.”</p><p>“I get it now, you wanted to save me from making the same mistake they had, but I really think that what’s going on <em>is</em> just a cold. It came on suddenly and they did all those tests, I don’t think they’re missing any possibilities here.” Feeling rather bad for ever thinking Kaito meant harm with what he said, Kaede found herself thankful she’d brought him along to learn that tidbit about him, but also wishing that she’d learned that in a place a lot less terrifying and sterile than the hospital.</p><p>They were able to leave after the doctor (not the horrified nurse) came in and explained the over-the-counter medications that would work to get Aika back to her normal self, with the reminder that if they didn’t work within a week that she needed to be evaluated again. “If all goes well, she’ll be back in tip-top shape by the beginning of the week, but if not, you can certainly schedule an appointment with her normal doctor, or just bring her back in here.”</p><p>“I think I’ll stick to the first option,” Kaede replied, making the doctor smile. “It’s less stressful to go to her usual doctor than it is to come here, after all.” There was no disagreement there, and soon they were on their way out, Kaito talking about how if he wasn’t going to be driving them home he’d go out and stargaze, given that the moon had set and there was not a cloud in the sky. It felt nice to hear him talking about something that meant so much to him, after what they’d talked about up in the room, but Kaede wanted nothing more than to get into bed and sleep until she couldn’t sleep anymore.</p><p>“Oh, I’ll swing by in the morning with that stuff the doctor said you’d need to use,” Kaito abruptly said, changing the topic of conversation completely, “so make sure that you go out and check the front step sometime. Least I can do for you, especially since you’re still not gonna want to drag Aika out to the store while she’s sick.”</p><p>“Thank you for that, Kaito, it is really appreciated.” She wanted to figure out how to pay him back for that unnecessary kindness, but she knew that giving him money straight wouldn’t be acceptable. It was something that would have to be paid back some other way, whenever she found that she had the opportunity to do it.</p><p>Right then, she needed to focus less on how to reward Kaito’s kindness and more on making sure that she was giving Aika the best care that she could, and that meant that when they got back to the house they were both in the big bed, the girl laying on her father’s empty side of the bed with a wall of pillows keeping her from rolling off, while Kaede got her usual spot, hoping that sleep would come easy that night. It didn’t, naturally, but when morning came and the medicine drop-off happened, it became easier to sleep when Aika was freshly medicated and not quite as feverish as she’d been. Together they slept there in the bed for a while, and by the time they were awake and ready for the day, the day was already more than half over, meaning that soon enough Shuichi would be back, completely unaware of the adventure they’d had overnight.</p><p>He wouldn’t be ignorant to the fact that Aika was sick, but perhaps he could go without finding out about the emergency room visit until after she was completely better.</p><p>
  <em>twenty-seven.</em>
</p><p>“What are you looking forward to for tomorrow?” Shuichi asked, almost a week after he’d gotten back from his work trip to finding his child under the weather and his wife clearly hiding something from him. She’d spilled the details of that night barely a day later, and he’d struggled to forgive her for withholding such information for a while, until he realized she’d done it out of consideration for him, not out of a place of malice. He’d still not let her forget about it when she’d made the weekly board for thirty-one weeks, making sure that she put something about having been to the doctor unexpectedly, but not for her or for the unborn baby, as to not concern anyone who saw the picture.</p><p>It was when he’d taken the picture that he’d asked his question, and it had caught Kaede off-guard initially until she’d remembered that the following day was her birthday, the second year in a row that she felt she was too pregnant to really do anything for the occasion. “Not a photoshoot, that’s for sure,” she joked, watching him set his phone aside at the remark. “But I don’t really know, there’s not much I want to do aside from sit around here with you and Aika, which is super boring but going out just takes too much energy.”</p><p>“I don’t have anything planned except going into work for a little while to finish up the paperwork for the case Kyoko’s had me helping her with, so spending time here together could happen.” He walked over to her and wrapped her in the biggest hug he could, which was only as big as it was because he approached her from the side, rather than head-on. She squirmed in his grasp, but did not fight the affection until she felt a tiny hand grabbing her calf and she couldn’t look down to see what Aika wanted.</p><p>“Ma-a-a-a!” a little voice rang out moments later, causing Kaede and Shuichi to look at each other, stunned at what they’d heard. When it repeated itself, with a bit more force, and they could tell it wasn’t either of them saying it (which, given how juvenile it sounded, they’d known from the start it wasn’t either of them), Shuichi backed off so that Kaede could look down at Aika, who was beaming up at her. “Ma-a-a-a!”</p><p>“Is that your new way of trying to get my attention?” Kaede asked, trying not to laugh as she motioned for Shuichi to grab Aika for her, for fear of losing her balance when she tried to do it herself, and once he had the girl in his arms she was reaching over to ruffle her hair. “I’m not sure if that counts as a first word or not, but I think it’s pretty close if it doesn’t.”</p><p>“Given that it’s this close to your birthday, and she’s deciding to speak to get your attention? I think we can count it as one.” He sounded overly impressed with what was going on, which was a fair feeling to have, given what had just transpired in front of them. “I feel it’s only fitting that she calls for you first, since she spends most of her time with you and—Kaede, what are you doing?”</p><p>He’d ended cutting his reasoning short when he’d watched Kaede stop playing with Aika to move over to her piano, carefully sitting on the bench and making sure that she could comfortably reach the keys while having enough room in front of her to not accidentally press the keys with her stomach. His eyebrows raised just until she played the first few notes of Aika’s Lullaby, at which point he understood what she was doing and sat himself down on the couch, putting Aika down next to him so that she could gleefully clap along to her mother’s playing.</p><p>Somewhere in the middle of the song, Kaede’s fingers switched their tune and she went from playing a melody they were all incredibly familiar with to one she still wasn’t solid on. It was a lot lower than Aika’s song was, but still carried the lullaby-like melody that she’d hoped would come across. “Ma!” Aika cheered happily, noticing that the music was different but still enjoying it! She followed her cheer up with incomprehensible babbles, which were without a doubt her giving her first music critique.</p><p>“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me just now,” Kaede apologized as the music trailed off, her hitting the last notes slower and slower until her fingers went silent. “I couldn’t help myself, moving between the songs like I did, but I don’t know if it sounds right yet. I don’t think it’s good enough for her.”</p><p>Shuichi brought a finger to his lips as he thought about how to answer, stroking it up and down as his mind went through all of the ways he could give his response. “I think it’s a lovely song, and it sounds just enough like Aika’s to make it clear you made it yourself, but I also think that you’re dragging something else into it that doesn’t need to be there. It’s definitely more…sad? melancholic? than Aika’s is, which isn’t what you’d expect in a lullaby written for a baby.”</p><p>“I think that’s because of what else is on my mind every time I sit at this piano and try playing the song,” she admitted after great hesitation, where she’d realized that her dragging up problems from months before was a bad excuse, but an excuse she had nonetheless. “I think about those lessons and I think about a life stripped from the world long before it should have been, and I can’t stop thinking about that.”</p><p>“So in a way, this song’s not just for the baby, but for <em>her</em> as well?” She nodded at Shuichi’s accurate summation of what she was feeling, and he gave a solemn nod in return. “I understand, and I think that gives it more character than it already had. It…also gives me an idea that I want to share with you, but I don’t think now’s the right time.” His eyes shifted over towards Aika, who had stopped clapping and instead was gnawing on one of her fingers, her tiny and sparce teeth doing a lot of work to avoid the digit as it was stuck in her mouth. “Let me put a bit more thought into it before I tell you, otherwise it’ll be a mess.”</p><p>“I’m not exactly sure I want to know what this idea is.” Her eyes following where Shuichi’s had fallen, all Kaede could guess was that the idea had something to do with the song and with Aika, and she wasn’t fully on-board with anything that took the song she’d been creating for the new baby and changing it to give to her older child. She was hopeful he wasn’t going to suggest that to her whenever he finally divulged what his idea was, but she also knew that she knew her husband well enough to know that was most likely it.</p><p>He laughed, hearing the apprehension in her voice. “No, I think this is going to be something you’re interested in hearing. It gets into something important we’ve been neglecting to talk about with each other, so that’s promising.” After laughing again, he was back to looking at her and not Aika, a playfulness in his gaze. “Anyway, back to what you want to do tomorrow, staying around here just the three of us sounds like a great, peaceful idea, if that’s what you really want from the day.”</p><p>“Unless I wake up with an abundance of energy, that’s what I’ll want, yes.”</p><p><em>twenty-eight</em>.</p><p>Come the next morning, Kaede most certainly did not have any energy to spare beyond the bare minimum needed to get through the day, and she was thankful she’d had the foresight to know she’d most likely feel that way. However, she did wake up to Aika crying, which automatically drained her more than usual (although the repeated cries of “Ma! Ma-a-a-a!” were quite different from what she typically got woken up to, and seeing the girl’s face light up when she did bring her mother into the room was worth it), but when she got to her phone after calming the girl down, she saw that she had quite the list of messages to sift through. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the first message was from Kaito, giving her a fully capitalized birthday with, followed immediately with one from Maki apologizing for his as well as giving her own. Tenko and Himiko both had sent messages as well, but more recently, as did just about every other friend Kaede could ask for.</p><p>There were some that she was quite tickled to see, like Rantaro giving her a happy birthday but also saying he was out of the country and would be for the foreseeable future, and Ryoma’s picture of himself over at a cat café sipping a drink was heartwarming. Others didn’t get as positive of a reaction, like the curt message she’d gotten from her parents, or the lewd one that Miu had sent, but Kaede quickly moved past those to see the ones she did want to see. “I wonder how many of these people are gonna say anything when it’s your birthday,” she quipped, looking at Aika as she was sitting on the bed, playing with the edge of the blanket she’d been sat on. “Probably most of them, but at the same time, I don’t know if they’ll be doing it like this or in person.”</p><p>Thinking about Aika’s first birthday was a daunting prospect, not just because it was such a big milestone, but because it felt almost dangerous to try planning anything solid for that date when so much else could be happening around then. Kaede knew that she was not going to be up for having anything too involved, but she was very much aware that if she wanted to spend Aika’s birthday the same way she wanted to spend her own, there’d be a lot of uproar from everyone who’d want to celebrate with the girl on such an important occasion. That meant there had to be a party, but how detailed of a party it was going to be was something best left up in the air at the moment.</p><p>“Best-case scenario is that your sister decides she wants to wait until after your birthday to be born,” Kaede said as she was still thinking about what to do for Aika’s birthday, not even focusing on her own birthday wishes anymore. “Worst-case is that she decides you can’t have all the spotlight and wants to be born that day. If she comes before, that’s okay too, but it’d be preferable if she’d wait until even the day after.” She could feel the child shifting around inside of her, giving punches and kicks as she moved, and she hoped that what she was saying was being heard, even though there was no way a baby would follow such wishes. “I think you should be allowed to have your own day to be celebrated, without having to worry about her being here.”</p><p>To respond to what was being said, Aika fell backwards on the bed, her legs kicking out when they were up in the air, and as she erupted in giggles as she flailed around like a turtle, Kaede was almost convinced that the baby inside her was taking on the same position, based on how she felt like she was being prodded in multiple places. Moments like the current one were something she’d never thought she would experience, nor did she think that she’d be in the position of having a baby while still raising someone who was on the outer fringes of being a baby, but it was something she wouldn’t trade for the world. She’d do anything for these children, regardless of if they were being a pain in her side or the most adorable things on the planet, and she was glad she was going to get to spend her birthday with them.</p><p>That mindset changed the moment Aika decided she was done playing and wanted to get to eat something, as she flipped herself over and began crawling onto her mother, not caring in the slightest that her hands and knees were bony and digging into places that Kaede would have rather not had someone digging into. There was only so much she could do to try and stop Aika from hurting her, but without being able to accurately explain why she didn’t enjoy knees in her thighs, or hands grabbing and pinching just about anywhere they touched, she knew that she was helpless in stopping what was happening, until Aika had propped herself up to standing (her feet, naturally, right in the center of one of Kaede’s thighs), grinning with her mostly-gums smile, so proud of what she’d done.</p><p>“I’m going to assume you’re hungry,” Kaede said, noticing exactly where Aika’s eyes had focused themselves and knowing that it was getting harder to get into a position where she could feed herself without any need for pumping or a bottle, so she’d more or less given up on the whole breastfeeding thing, at least for Aika. “I’ll have to move you so that I can get up, but we’re going to go out to the kitchen to get something for you to eat.”</p><p>Not knowing a word of what was said to her, Aika began to whine when she was gently pushed down back onto the bed, and even after Kaede had gotten up and picked her up carefully she was still on the verge of crying. That stopped when they got out to the kitchen and Aika’s high chair was sitting right there, waiting for her to be put into it, and she began to give her loud cheer instead. As fast as she could, knowing that time was limited before she had an angry and very hungry girl on her hands, Kaede went to the first cabinet she could get to and opened it, pulling out a bowl and setting it, and only it, on the tray of the chair. By the time she’d gotten to the next cabinet to grab a container of fruit puree, Aika had knocked the bowl onto the ground and was crying furious tears, her little fists banging against the plastic locking her into the seat.</p><p>“Somehow I knew you’d do that, but oh well.” That bowl was now stuck on the ground until Shuichi got home, and Kaede was forced to grab a second one to try and use as a plaything for the girl while she finished getting everything ready for the meal. After she’d prepared a bottle for Aika to drink from after she’d eaten the rest of the food, she drew herself her chair and sat next to Aika’s, the second bowl, the container of puree, and a tiny spoon all in hand. Scooping half of the puree into the bowl and setting the jar aside, she began to try and coerce the girl into eating it first by bringing the spoon to her own lips, but smelling the fruity mixture that close to her face made her gag, so she instead took it closer to Aika’s. The girl nearly went cross-eyed trying to see the spoon as it approached, and she giggled when it was pulled back and pushed closer to her once more, and she chose to take it in without too much of a fuss.</p><p>Considering herself lucky that Aika was going to cooperate with eating breakfast that morning, Kaede was able to get her to eat her fruit with relative ease, before handing her the bottle to wash it down with. As she sat there, her hands gripping her animal-covered bottle as if it was about to be ripped from them, Aika looked like she was more content than she’d ever been before, and Kaede took that as her opportunity to clean everything up that she could so that they could get on with their day. Of course, the moment she stood up, Aika was throwing the bottle onto the floor, and because that had the possibility of spilling Kaede had to get down to pick it up, meaning she could grab that other bowl as well and leave no trace of the meal for later.</p><p>But when she crouched down, she lost her balance and fell backward, hitting the floor with a solid thudding sound that made Aika howl with laughter to hear it. “It’s not very funny,” Kaede grumbled, using the chair she’d sat in before as a tool to get herself back to standing, thankful she’d fallen backward as opposed to forward and causing harm to the baby. “I could’ve gotten stuck down there, then you’d be stuck up here until your dad gets home later. Wouldn’t that be the worst?”</p><p>The laughter stopped, but Aika’s blank stare was a firm reminder that she didn’t know what was being said to her, and Kaede sighed. “Right, you’re not even a year old yet, I can’t talk to you like you get what I’m telling you. Someday, though, you’ll hear me be scolding and you’ll be like, ‘geez, Mom, be nicer to me, I’m just your baby,’ and I’ll be like…’no, Aika, I have to be like this because I’m your mom’ and we’re not gonna see eye to eye and it’s going to be rough, but…” Sighing again, Kaede set the bottle back on the tray and watched Aika grab it and began sucking from it once more, and she was able to successfully get the dishes taken care of before the bottle was empty and the breakfast was effectively over.</p><p>Long gone were the days where a morning at home meant laying Aika down on the floor and watching her try to roll over on her own, as she could roll over with ease and didn’t need to have that as her sole form of entertainment. She was more focused on trying to get herself standing up, using either the couch or the piano bench as her brace to put weight on her small feet and shaky legs. It was quite fun to watch her trying, and since she knew it was going to be at least a little while before Shuichi got home, Kaede took a seat on the couch and watched the activity for herself. Aika’s determination in standing with a steady stance was going to have her walking sooner rather than later, and Kaede wasn’t quite sure if she was ready to accept that fact. There was just something about the idea of having a walking child that made her feel like she’d missed everything up to that point, even though she’d been around for all of her firsts.</p><p>“Ma?” Aika asked, dropping to the floor from over by the piano bench and crawling to the couch, where she picked herself up and grinned when she saw Kaede’s face up above. There was some babbling that followed, the girl occasionally stopping and making sure that her mother was still watching her, which concluded with her confidently letting go of the couch and promptly toppling over backwards, landing in a sitting position with a laugh. Because she seemed so content with what she was doing, Kaede didn’t even bat an eyelash at it, but when Aika pulled herself back up to standing her laughter had subsided and she wore a disappointed face, her baby cheeks puffed out as much as they could be. “Ma! Ma-a-a-a!”</p><p>“I’m watching you, Aika,” Kaede responded, not really sure what there was that she should be doing right then. To drive her point home, she leaned forward from sitting against the back of the couch and watched the girl more intently, as she repeated her entire process from the babbling to the trying to stand and falling. This time, when she pulled herself back up, Aika wasn’t laughing, and was instead trying to get some sort of reaction out of her mother, who still had no idea what the girl expected of her.</p><p>It wasn’t until hours later, when the girl had tuckered herself out enough to fall asleep in the middle of the floor with her fingers hanging from her mouth, that Kaede was able to put two and two together and realize that Aika had been mimicking what she’d done earlier in the morning. It wasn’t an accurate bit of mimicry, but she’d done it the best she could, falling over and getting up without being hurt and moving on like nothing had happened, and it was cute to see that the girl thought being just like her mom in terms of falling down was something worth copying. “You’re definitely already a creative one,” she murmured, stepping around where Aika had chosen to fall asleep to get to the piano bench, where she sat and began playing the lullaby she’d created for the new baby, knowing that her chances to do so were limited without distractions. “I have no idea where you’d get such talent.”</p><p>At some point while she was playing, Shuichi happened to come home, but she didn’t notice until she felt hands draping themselves over her shoulders, gently thumbing the space between her shoulder blades as she played. “Dare I ask why Aika’s sleeping in the middle of the room?” he asked with a chuckle, to which she shrugged the best she could and continued playing. “Did you not feel like trying to move her?”</p><p>“Why, so that she could start trying to copy me failing at picking her up off the floor?” she replied, knowing she’d have to explain where that came from…or so she thought. It turned out that she’d been doing her attempts at copying her parents for days, and up until then it had only been Shuichi who’d seen in, when he’d be with her in the mornings before work and she’d be freshly awake. He found Kaede’s version of events to be quite endearing, because it showed that Aika cared enough about them both to want to be just like them, even if she was still far too little to really do anything.</p><p>“I can’t believe she’ll be a year old in less than two months,” Shuichi said after falling silent for a moment, his thumbs stopping moving as he’d found himself enthralled with watching Aika’s sleeping form on the floor. “It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long at all.”</p><p>Despite having her own reasons for knowing for a fact it had been that long, no matter how fast time with Aika seemed to have flown by, Kaede gave a hum of agreement. “She’s grown up right in front of our eyes, and she’s not going to stop anytime soon. We’ve got to savor these moments when we find them, before…” She trailed off in time with the music, her eyes and hands both wandering to the upper curve of her stomach, which at the moment felt still as the child inside rested much like her sister was. “Before we have another baby to watch growing up, while Aika’s doing her own thing.”</p><p>“And who knows, maybe we’ll be getting to know her sooner than we think.” It was clear that Shuichi was unaware of how Kaede felt about that particular topic, and that she’d need to address her hopes with him as soon as she could. But there was a giddiness to his voice, rather than an apprehension or a fear of what was to come, and hearing him getting excited about wanting to meet their second child made her wish that it would be happening sooner as well. “Actually, about that,” he started, sending a chill down her spine because if he had any plans that would involve her giving birth long before it was time, she was concerned, and she quickly turned to look at his face, which was staring right at hers. “I had an idea for your birthday present this year, and I was hoping that I’d be able to get it for today but they were unfortunately booked up until late next week.”</p><p>“Oh, it’s okay if you couldn’t make it happen,” she assured him, not wanting him to feel bad if he couldn’t get whatever it was he’d wanted. “I know that things are kind of crazy because all of our money needs to be saved for everything coming up, so if I get nothing except quality time with you and Aika, that’s all I really need.”</p><p>The sneaky smile that appeared on Shuichi’s face came as a surprise for her, as he gestured for her to stand. “Don’t worry, I still booked the appointment, it might not be when I wanted it to be but it’ll be fun in its own way.” Once she was to her feet he took her by the hand, wrapping his fingers around hers tightly, and led her towards the door, which he opened with his free hand. “But I might’ve lied to you about what I was doing today, just to keep you off my trail in case you had any suspicions about what else I was going to get you.”</p><p>“Why would I—” Kaede couldn’t even finish her sentence when she followed him outside and saw the first glimpse of what was waiting for her out there, a vehicle much different than the car they’d shared since they’d first gotten together. It definitely wasn’t pretty by any means, even if the paint shone like new and there was nary a dent in its surface, but just seeing what was undoubtedly a minivan sitting in front of her house was enough to get the tears rolling. “We don’t have to worry about not fitting in the car anymore,” she cried, throwing her face into Shuichi’s shoulder as he tried not to laugh. “You’re such a jerk! Why didn’t you warn me you were going to do this?”</p><p>“Because I knew if I’d told you I was thinking about it, you’d get upset that I thought we’d need the extra room, but after talking about it with some of our friends…well, they decided they’d help in getting it for us, all for your birthday.” He heard her sniffling and trying to collect herself, a task that was not easily finished, especially not when he told her, “Go see the back of it and see what someone put on it for you. I’ll be back inside with Aika, so just come in when you’re done.”</p><p>She nodded tearfully, breaking away from him as he reentered the house and she went to inspect their new vehicle for herself. It was a plain, dark gray color, which wasn’t anything exciting but it was something that she’d have to keep in mind whenever she went to the store from then on. The front seats seemed spacious enough, and the sliding doors to get into the back rows would be much easier to deal with than the ones they’d had on their car, when it came to opening and closing with car seats in mind. But when she got to the back, Kaede was expecting to have to open the trunk to see what Shuichi had been referring to, so she was not prepared for seeing the sticker of a grand piano sitting in the bottom right corner of the back windshield with a pink butterfly above it.</p><p>Not only had everyone she knew gotten together to get her the car upgrade she’d inwardly known she’d needed, but they’d taken it upon themselves to customize it for her, and she didn’t know what to do about that. When she got inside to see Shuichi sitting on the floor, stroking Aika’s hair as the girl still napped, the first thing she did was resume crying, followed by walking over to him and reaching down with arms wide open. “I need you to give me the biggest hug you can,” she demanded, to which he looked at her with that sly smile once more. “This is such a surprise, I really don’t know what to do or think or anything! When you say you talked to our friends, you really talked to everyone, huh?”</p><p>“I might’ve been convinced to do it by someone, sure. The stickers were a gift from Angie, she didn’t have the money to share but she did have the ability to make those. Ryoma had a contact who was able to get that van—newest model they had—reserved for us at a discounted price, and Kirumi had the idea to clean it up inside even after they’d done it at the dealership today.” As he was getting to his feet, he could see Kaede bursting with more emotional energy, and his hug came not a moment too soon. “Everyone else helped with it financially, or they paid for the other gift I’ve got for you, since this was quite the purchase I made and even with everyone’s help I didn’t have quite enough to cover it all.”</p><p>“How are we going to afford paying for the rest of it?” she choked out, starting to get concerned that he’d gone through all this hassle without considering the financial burden paying it off would cause. “If you didn’t have enough, then why did you buy it?”</p><p>“Let’s just say that I’ll still be finding rides to work, which wasn’t the option I’d wanted to go with when I did this, but it was a necessary sacrifice.” He pulled his upper half away from her so that she could see his smile turning a bit more guilty and a little less sly, which was understandable given what he’d just admitted to. “We were just a bit off from having the whole thing covered, and everyone was fine with me keeping the money they’d offered that became unnecessary when I traded the car in, so I’ve got quite a bit started for saving up for another vehicle. Besides, that car needed replacing anyway, it was about time we got something better for this family.”</p><p>She still couldn’t quite believe what was going on, but having seen the van for herself Kaede knew that what Shuichi was telling her was the truth. “This is such a big surprise, you know,” she pointed out, choking out a few sobs before continuing to speak. “Geez, here I was thinking I was the best at birthday gifts, and now you blow me right out of the water!”</p><p>“Hey now, your gifts have been great as well, and now my gift helps carry yours around.”</p><p><em>twenty-nine</em>.</p><p>In all fairness, Kaede should have seen the second gift coming, because it was something that they’d done before Aika was born that hadn’t yet happened with the second child. There were just a couple major differences between this time and the previous time, and those had kept her from suspecting what they were doing until they were outside the place it was happening at. One was that Aika was with them, which usually they’d have someone watching her if it was anything that small children shouldn’t have been around for. Another was that, for whatever reason, Shuichi had grabbed the board off the wall and brought it with them when they left their house that day. And the third one, the biggest one of all, was when they were getting ready to leave and he’d asked her if she was ready to get to see the baby for the first time in a while.</p><p>“I swear, if you’re going to take me somewhere and force me to have her already, I’m going to never forgive you,” she’d replied, giving him the most concerned look she could manage as he went wide-eyed at her suggestion but didn’t refute a thing. “That sounds like the sort of thing you and Maki, and maybe Kaito too, would’ve planned for.”</p><p>“When I say they’re not in on this, you have to believe me,” he told her, watching from the corner of his eye as she narrowed her eyebrows in absolute disbelief at what he was saying. “There are people who know what we’re up to today, but it’s not either of them. Think of this as a…joke we’re going to pull on them.”</p><p>“Us? Pulling a joke on those two? I’ll believe it when I see it.” Yet when they arrived outside of the usual doctor’s office, she was admittedly quite confused about what was going on, as well as beginning to believe her own idea that he was about to cause something she wasn’t ready for. Questions began to filter into her mind, about why Aika was there with them, about why he’d grabbed the board, about what he was planning that required them to be there of all the places, but when he saw her beginning to overthink things he finally gave up on keeping it a surprise and told her what he’d planned.</p><p>“It’s a little later than when we saw Aika before she was born, but they said they’ll still be able to put a better face to this girl than what we’ve already seen, and I figured you’d want to get to do that,” he said, watching as Kaede began to make sense of what was going on. “I remembered last time how excited you were, and then how much you dreaded doing it when you knew this was what we were going to do, so I thought, hey, maybe keeping it as a secret from you until we were here would be a good thing.”</p><p>“And why’s the board with us?” she asked, looking into the far backseat of the car, past where Aika was buckled into her own car seat, to where the board was laying flat. “I’m assuming that you’re not planning anything big with that, are you?”</p><p>That was where he paused, his teeth grinding as he thought about how to approach his idea with that. “I wanted to get a picture of you with it outside the building, to make those who don’t know why we’re here get suspicious, but I’m starting to rethink that. Aika’s here because they said they’d allow her in the exam room for this, as long as she doesn’t start causing a scene. Something about letting her get to see her baby sister too.”</p><p>“That’s adorable,” Kaede said after deciding that perhaps this wasn’t such a bad idea after all, especially since she hadn’t been given enough time to tell herself that she didn’t want to get to see the baby again. She found herself getting excited to see the small face and to compare it to what she remembered Aika’s as looking like, and she could barely contain those joyous feelings as they ended up sitting in the waiting room for a while, Shuichi having dragged them over a little bit too early for the appointment they’d made.</p><p>The specialist that was helping them that day was beyond thrilled that they’d brought Aika with them, wanting to play with her with waves and smiles more than she wanted to get into the meat of the procedure. “It’s not every day that a couple coming in for one of these brings someone so small in with them,” she admitted, before assuring them both that it was a perfectly normal thing for there to be a small age gap between siblings. “I think around a year between children is fine, it means you’re not unfamiliar with the stages when the second child gets to them, and they’ll be so close in age. Built-in best friends, just about.”</p><p>“Thanks for that,” Shuichi told her with a halfhearted smile, not sure if he was fully certain about getting that advice from her. He tightened his grip on Aika, who was trying to worm her way out of his arms to get to the specialist as she was getting everything set up for the appointment, while Kaede took her place on the table, her shirt completely off because she didn’t feel like having it rolled up. Usually when they were in this position, he was holding her hand, but because of Aika being with them that didn’t seem like an option; it worked out because Aika ended up grabbing her mother’s hand and taking a strong hold on her thumb.</p><p>Even though this was their second time with this particular kind of appointment, it was still strange when on the screen was not something blurry and in grayscale, but rather something that looked like it had actual depth to it. The first thing the specialist was able to locate was a foot, the toes curled up on it but it definitely looking like a foot should have, and from there she was able to manipulate and move around until—“Here’s the face we’re looking for!” she proudly announced, zooming in on her screen slightly to magnify the face within the almost shapeless void surrounding it. “What a cutie, seeing them like this never gets old.”</p><p>“Her face looks almost exactly like Aika’s did,” Kaede remarked, reminiscing about how long she’d stared at that picture of her first child and imagined what she’d look like in real life, finding that it was fairly accurate. She glanced over towards Aika to see what she was doing, her little eyes staring in the direction of the screen. “I wonder if she thinks she’s looking at herself right now.”</p><p>“She probably has no idea what it is she’s looking at.” Bouncing her once to get her attention, even though it wasn’t going to do much, Shuichi tried to explain to Aika what was going on. “That right there, that’s your baby sister, you’re going to get to meet her soon and then you’re going to get to spend every day of your life with her, how cool is that?”</p><p>“Ma, ba,” Aika replied, confidently nodding and tugging on Kaede’s thumb. “Ma! Ba!”</p><p>Confused at what the new word that Aika was trying to say was supposed to be, Kaede gave decoding it her best shot. “I think she’s trying to tell me about her baby sister, but I don’t think she gets that I’m already <em>well</em>-aware of her,” she laughed. “I’m sure when we can tell her about this when she’s older, she’ll realize how silly it was for her to try to get me to look at the baby.”</p><p>“You can tell that the genetics these two picked up are very strong,” the specialist said, playing around with the magnification as she tried to find another angle of the baby’s face. “Even right now you can tell they’re related, they’ve got the same basic structure to their noses and eyes.” She settled on an angle that tried to get more of a profile of the baby, before looking at the parents. “I’m sure you’d love to tell me all about which one of you gave them this nose and which one gave them the cheekbones and the browbone and all that, but I’m going to have to pass on hearing about it. I’d like to get to see it myself.”</p><p>“Oh, well, you’re going to have a hard time figuring that out,” Kaede replied, knowing that it was difficult to tell even looking at Aika because she looked more like them both when they were younger, not as they were right then. “But maybe you can make some guesses or something, if you want.”</p><p>As she was printing out the pictures for them to keep, the specialist did exactly what Kaede had told her to and placed some guesses on which parent gave the children roughly which trait, and it was fun to hear her making those decisions on the spot. Most of them were wrong, she was basing them off of people who’d grown up and lost the definition that the babies had in their faces, but it was still fun to hear about it. When she had the pictures done she handed them off in a decorative envelope with a smile, before telling them they were free to go whenever they were ready. “One last thing before I’m out of here on my lunch,” she said with a grin, nodding towards Kaede. “I meant what I said about the babies being close together in age, but for your sake, please don’t stress yourself out with these cuties. They need you around for a long time, you’ve got to take care of yourself for them.”</p><p>“Someone who agrees with me on that fact,” Shuichi replied, giving Kaede a knowing look now that he had someone else on his side. “And since she’s a doctor and not the person married to you, you’ll listen to her, right?”</p><p>She hesitated in responding, but swallowed down hard before saying, “Yeah, of course I’ll listen to her. I was going to do it anyway, but apparently you were doubting me still.”</p><p>“Bring them both around here sometime when the new baby’s older, I want to get to see them together and see how similar they look!” The specialist waved them farewell and headed out of the exam room, closing the door behind her as she left because Kaede was still not completely re-dressed and she didn’t want to cause a scene.</p><p>They were gone not long after, the envelope and Aika both carefully brought out to the van with them, but it was when they were getting ready to go that Shuichi had the brilliant, and somewhat cruel, idea to send their friends something completely out of context. When he ran the idea by Kaede she laughed so hard she was pretty sure she was going to need a change of pants when she got home, her begging him to go through with it, and the aftermath of his decision had them laughing for the rest of the day. Sure, it was the first of April, but when the couple actively expecting a child sends out a message talking about how their daughter got to see her sister, some assumptions were going to be made.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>thirty.</em>
</p><p>There was something about Kaito’s birthday that made him think that everyone was going to be perfectly okay with the decisions he made on how to celebrate the day, and when he invited his friends (sans Aika initially, until he realized he’d invited all possible babysitters as well) over for a movie night, he didn’t elaborate further and didn’t understand why they were apprehensive to accept the invitation. “Do you know how hard it will be to have her around and have everyone enjoying a movie?” Kaede asked, while Shuichi was deliberating about how he was going to respond. “Besides, I know that he’s going to want everyone drinking, and if a drunk fight breaks out I’m going to lose my mind.”</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s for his birthday, he’s going to want to have the best time possible, regardless of the logistics. I guess I can tell him we’ll be there until Aika wants nothing more to do with it, then we’ll leave for everyone else’s sake? Would that work for you?” He knew that a big part of the situation was that Kaede herself didn’t really want to go, given that she was already struggling on a regular basis with sitting comfortably for long periods of time. “If you don’t want to do it, I can just tell him that as well.”</p><p>“And risk him driving over here to try and tell me that I can handle a couple of movies with everyone? Do you not remember how he forced me out bowling last year?” Closing her eyes as she vividly remembered hitting him with one of the shoes that she’d been forced to wear on her incredibly swollen feet on that ill-fated adventure, Kaede felt herself flooding with thankfulness that of all the uncomfortable things that had happened to her thus far in her pregnancy, having her feet swell up beyond a reasonable point was not one of them. “I’ll suffer through as long as Aika can handle it, but no more.”</p><p>The message was soon sent and as they waited for a reply, Shuichi headed over towards one of the two new rooms that had been added on to the house, the door for it rarely opened as they hadn’t really done much with it. “I think, when we have the time, I’m ready to get started with setting this up,” he said, opening the door and waiting for Kaede and Aika both to follow him, them coming at just about the same pace. “It’s not going to be nearly as detailed and lovely as Aika’s nursery was, but it’ll feel similar.”</p><p>It was a room that felt like it was meant to be used as a bedroom, as opposed to the one Aika had that had previously been a cluttered office space, with a window letting in natural light on the back wall and plenty of space to fill. The walls were a pale blue, painted by the construction crew, giving the area a calming feeling to it, and the ceilings were sloped towards the windowed wall, to the point that when standing at his normal height, Shuichi could reach up and touch the lowest part with ease. “I’ll see if any of our friends would be interested in helping me set up, and then it’s a game of getting the room furnished, but that’ll be mostly re-furnishing Aika’s room with new furniture, and putting her old things in here.”</p><p>“I’m excited to get to see it,” Kaede mumbled, her eyes covering as much of the room as they could before she blinked. “I’ve already told you that anything we used for Aika can be used again here, and that definitely includes decorations. These girls are going to both be swarming in butterflies, damn it.”</p><p>“Language, Kaede,” he teased, watching as she covered her mouth and looked down at Aika apologetically. “But you’re right, we’re not going to tread any new ground with this and make more work for ourselves. The big difference, aside from how much room there is, will be the base color of the walls, but I’m not worried about repainting in here for now. Maybe when she’s older we can do that, but—oh, that must be Kaito’s reply.” Whatever he was going to say had to wait as he fished his phone out of the pocket of his work pants (he’d just gotten home when the initial invitation had come through) and checked to see what Kaito had to say, laughing after he’d read the message. “He’s fine with us leaving if Aika starts to get to be too much, as long as we’re there for at least one movie.”</p><p>“How does he expect us to promise him that much?” It was obvious that Kaito wasn’t incredibly familiar with life with a child, and that he didn’t know the sacrifices to fun that had to be made while caring for one. But Kaede wasn’t about to start a fight over it, and she gave Shuichi the direction to let Kaito know they’d be there, whether it was for one movie, half of one, or the whole night. As he was taking care of sending that return message, she was still looking around the room, envisioning what it was going to look like as soon as everything meant for it was put in place, excitement building within her soul.</p><p>It turned out that when Kaito wanted everyone to come over for movies, he meant for them to come over as soon as they could, rather than have a set time for arrival, and when Shuichi read that message out loud for his wife they exchanged glances that solidified what she’d already been thinking. Them making spontaneous decisions wasn’t exactly easy anymore, not when there was someone else they had to get ready to go anywhere with them. A plan was drawn, him changing out of his work clothes and into something more comfortable, before getting Aika ready while Kaede prepared herself, and that seemed easy enough to follow to the letter so they went with it.</p><p>When it was her turn to get dressed, Kaede wished she could have stayed in her comfortable leggings that she’d been wearing as pants all day, knowing that they weren’t exactly suitable for her to be wearing around people outside her household. She had plenty of other options to wear, thanks to getting more pants the moment she felt she was going to have another elastic-breaking situation as she pulled them up over her thighs, but all of her favorites to wear weren’t ones meant for going out in. She’d ended up selecting a pair of magenta sweatpants she’d gotten the previous year and never worn because she got them the week she had Aika and never really needed to wear them then; they were quite comfortable and fit her like a glove, to the point that if she loosened the adjustable waist as much as she could, she would have been able to wear them over her stomach, but that wasn’t necessary.</p><p>Shirts were easy, she had enough quirky and tacky maternity t-shirts that she’d collected that she could wear a different one each day of the month and still have plenty extra, and she selected one that she’d been given at Christmas but never wore. Socks weren’t happening on her feet that day, it would’ve been too much effort to get them on, so she resigned herself to needing to wear slip-on sandals when she went to leave, and that was about all she did to get ready. Before going to let Shuichi know she was good to go, she checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she quickly ran the brush through her hair, regretting letting it get as long as it currently was. “I’m going to have to get this taken care of before I’ve got a second pair of hands yanking it when they want attention,” she said to herself, wincing when she got to some knots that she knew were because of Aika playing with it. “Otherwise I might be getting my hair ripped out by grabby hands.”</p><p>Once that was done and she looked as presentable as someone who was thirty-three weeks pregnant could possibly look when wearing oversized sweatpants and a shirt that had clearly seen better days but read <em>#FierceMama</em> across its top, she threw her brush back into its drawer and waddled out of the room, finding Shuichi waiting for her with Aika on his hip. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you actually tried to make yourself look good for this, but I know that you put in the bare minimum,” he said with a laugh, watching her smile at his accurate statement. “Who’d actually try to look good for Kaito’s movie-watching birthday party in the first place?”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure none of that’s an actual compliment, but thank you anyway.” Bouncing some of her hair off of her shoulder, Kaede’s smile grew as she watched Shuichi rethink what he had said and conclude that she was correct, apologizing for it immediately. “Hey, no problem, you were so right by saying I put in the bare minimum. I’m just lucky that it doesn’t take much to make me look gorgeous.”</p><p>They shared a laugh as they left, heading out to their van and bringing everything they’d need to occupy Aika’s time while they were gone with them. She wasn’t high-maintenance by any means, but if there was going to be any hope of having her keep herself amused for the length of time it would take to watch one movie, there were a lot of toys and playthings needed. Realizing just in the nick of time that nothing had been said about food, they’d even brought with them what Aika would need for her dinner, which was quickly approaching, just in case the solution to what they were going to eat wasn’t “fend for yourselves”. Once they felt confident in everything they had with them they set off over to meet with Kaito, Maki, and whoever else had been invited and was actually attending.</p><p>When they got to the front door of the place their friends called home, they let Aika give the first, shaky knock, before she started slamming both hands on the door like it was a toy. Kaito opened it fairly quickly, grinning at the family standing there. “Welcome to my party, glad you could make it!” he greeted, getting the door open as far as it could so that they could walk inside and begin setting up a quiet area for Aika to play. “You’re not the first ones here, but you’re the only ones here right now, if that makes sense.”</p><p>“But we saw Tenko’s car outside,” Shuichi said, knowing that for a fact because he’d parked next to it. “If that’s here, where’s she?”</p><p>“Her and Himiko and Maki Roll all went to pick up some things from the store, because apparently me doing this last-minute was a problem since they didn’t have time to set up for anything.” Giving a hearty laugh, Kaito made sure the door was locked before he approached the couple, his eyes set squarely on Aika. “And also Maki Roll wanted to come up with a ‘surprise’ for me, which I don’t know what that could end up being. Mind if I hold Aika while you get all of her things ready?”</p><p>“Oh, please do,” Kaede told him, her whole body aching from having been the one to carry the girl in, and once she’d transferred her over to Kaito’s waiting arms she looked at him with a thankful expression that quickly soured when she noticed that he was missing something rather crucial. “Er, I don’t mean to call you out in your own home, but where are your pants?”</p><p>Laughing again, Kaito carefully balanced himself on one leg while sticking out the other, striking a pose before putting his foot back on the floor, Kaede and Shuichi both watching him in almost horror. “I know I’ve told you this before, Kaede. When a guy watches romantic movies with his woman, he’s wise not to wear pants. We were both off today, so we kinda watched a movie earlier when I got the idea to invite everyone over for more tonight, and I guess the pants never got put on.” He paused, a clear attempt at thought taking place in his mind, before he gasped. “That…might explain why Tenko was so disgusted with me when she came in, now that I think about it.”</p><p>“Never change, Kaito,” Shuichi managed to say, after processing what he’d just heard fully, while Kaede began to laugh and ended up leaning against the wall to keep herself standing as she found the whole thing equal parts embarrassing for him as well was hilarious. Hearing her mother’s laughter got Aika started as well, and soon enough Kaito was busting up at his own behavior.</p><p>He did give Aika off to her father so that he could correct his mistake and have pants on for when everyone else got back, but in the time he was in his bedroom putting them on someone else was at the door, and as the only one there with free hands Kaede ended up being the one to check who it was. She couldn’t see who was there through the peephole on the door, so she opened it carefully to see that way. “You’re not who I was expecting to see answer for me,” Ryoma said, his deep voice a thankful sound given how the situation could have gone as a worst-case scenario. “Kaito step out for a moment?”</p><p>“You could say that,” she replied, moving herself and the door out of Ryoma’s way so that he could come inside, a backpack thrown over his shoulder as he entered. “What did you bring with you? Please tell me it’s not a cat you’ve smuggled in.”</p><p>“That’d be the dream, bringing a cat to someone’s party, but no, I brought by some snacks since we’re watching a movie. Can’t stay out too late tonight unless I want to be breaking probation, but they did give me a couple extra hours for good behavior.” He headed straight to the kitchen, where he dumped out the collection of candies and chips he’d stuffed in his backpack, and grabbed himself a bag of plain chips to snack on. “Sometimes it pays to follow all the rules, gets you a bit more time with friends.”</p><p>Hearing him happy was nice, and Kaede could feel herself beginning to grow rather hungry watching him open that bag of chips and begin eating them, but she wasn’t going to intrude on his snacks until she knew what else there was to offer. “Hey, Ryoma’s here, when did that happen?” Kaito remarked as he came out of the bedroom wearing space-print pajama pants which weren’t quite long enough for his legs and left the lower half of his calves to his feet exposed. “And he’s brought snacks? Gimme some, if you don’t mind.”</p><p>Rather than going back to grab a second bag, Ryoma went up to Kaito and offered him some of what he was already eating, which he took with gusto. “I’m going to guess that everyone else will be here soon, right?” Shuichi asked, seeing the way Kaede was also eyeing those chips but restraining herself for whatever reason. “Of course, by everyone else I do mean the three that are out getting things, unless you’ve invited others.” A moment passed, while he sized Kaito up and shook his head. “I can’t think of you actually inviting anyone else.”</p><p>“I did, but no one else is coming, they’ve already got plans. That, or they’re Gonta and the dude just doesn’t pick up when you try calling him.” Crunching down on his chip and swallowing it almost instantly, Kaito gave Ryoma a silent thank you with a thumbs-up and threw himself onto the large couch that took up part of the room, a furniture piece that had been added to the place in recent months. “Go ahead and claim your spots, if there’s a pillow on it that’s where all the ladies are sitting and you can’t take those places.”</p><p>There was exactly enough space for two people to sit comfortably, given the rough estimates of how much space beyond the pillows the others would need, and without being asked Ryoma gestured to the end of the couch with both hands. “I’ll take the floor, it’s not a problem at all. Kaede, it’d be wrong if you had to sit anywhere but up on the couch, and I’d feel like a jerk if I took the rest of the space when Shuichi could take it instead.” They both appreciated his offer and made their way to the spots, figuring out how best they could sit there and see the TV screen, while Ryoma took the floor near their feet, still eating his chips as he sat.</p><p>The four of them broke into some casual conversation, mostly about life things going on outside the bubble of the birthday party, only to be brought to a stop when the front door came flying open as Maki, Tenko, and Himiko came back, each of them holding something that seemed rather important. “We brought cake,” Himiko announced with about as much enthusiasm as someone would talk about a tragedy. “It’s not decorated but we’re going to fix that with some magic and a bit of candy we bought.”</p><p>“Not only that, but we’ve got dinner as well,” Tenko tacked on, her arms arguably the fullest as she carried a large box of some sort. “We couldn’t decide what everyone would want to share, so we bought a bunch of different types of noodles and hoped that would work. Plus they gave us a bunch of extras for the order, so there’s plenty to go around!”</p><p>Maki didn’t say a word about what she was holding, taking it right into the bedroom and slamming the door closed behind her while she was in there. When she emerged, she had nothing with her but a scowl on her face as she looked at everyone gathered in her home. “I hope we’re not expecting there to be candles and presents and that whole nonsense,” she said, her eyes ultimately focusing on Kaito, who shrugged. “Good, because you’re not getting any of that with everyone here.”</p><p>“I’m not going to complain about that,” he told her with a wink, getting her flustered and reaching for something to throw at him. Unfortunately, the first thing her hand touched was a glass spaceship they’d put out as decoration, and she barely stopped herself in time from throwing it at his face, only not going through with it because of the chance of hitting someone else. She rolled her eyes, muttered a couple things under her breath, and went into the kitchen to help organize the food they’d brought back with them, which went beyond what Tenko had talked about in many ways.</p><p>As they were setting up the dinner, Kaito started getting the first movie ready, all while talking about what his plans were for their marathon. He’d naturally selected a bunch of space-themed classic films, none of which were romantic movies (which then made his pantsless appearance at the start make even less sense), and he wanted to get into watching the first one as soon as possible. His one request was that they were all eating when he turned it on, to try and eliminate getting up as much as he could, which everyone agreed to try to adhere to.</p><p>There was a single dissenter to that request being a plausible thing to follow, that being Kaede, but with her spot at the far end of the couch she wouldn’t be as disruptive as she would’ve been sitting in the center. “Okay, but I’m using the bathroom in your bedroom every time I get up,” she pointed out, demonstrating with her hands how if they didn’t want that to be the solution, they’d need her on the other side of the couch, but then she’d be further from the kitchen and who knew how often she’d want to get up to grab snacks. It was a reluctant agreement to that term, but after pleading with her to just let it happen Maki did give in and say that was going to be fine, as long as she didn’t do any exploring while she was in there.</p><p>Exactly as she predicted it would go, it wasn’t even ten minutes into the dinner and meal that Kaede needed to get up for the first time, not to get more food or slip into the bathroom, but to take care of Aika, who’d realized that there was no attention on her and her toys and she needed the company. That was when she got her meal, while the one that Kaede had gotten for herself grew cold by her seat, but it was then or ruin things for everyone when Aika started crying, and she didn’t want to cause problems so early. Once the girl was satiated and back to playing by her lonesome, Kaede was able to sit back down and enjoy her soup for a little bit, until she felt limbs jamming into her in places that made it uncomfortable to eat much of anything.</p><p>Noticing her setting her bowl aside again, Shuichi looked at her from his position of being the sole object keeping Kaito from laying down on the couch, raising his eyebrows to ask her if she was okay, and she responded by grabbing his hand and placing it where she’d been feeling some of the movements. The first nudge that he was able to feel answered his question and he mouthed an apology, which she shook her head at because she knew there was no need for him trying to apologize for something that he had no control over. The moment she couldn’t feel the movements as much she was back to trying to eat, but by then the soup had gotten too cold to be appetizing and she gave up on it entirely.</p><p>That first movie was far too long to be the opening act for the party, and by the time it was over everyone needed a chance to stretch their legs, minus the one who’d gotten up no less than five times during it for various reasons. “Every time I see you, you’re giving me more reasons to never want children,” Maki told her as she paced around the room, wincing with each step as her feet had gone numb from how she’d sat with them curled up underneath herself. “I’d rather eat poison than have to go through that hell, yet you seem to enjoy it so much you’re doing it twice.”</p><p>“I’m not going to say it isn’t rough, but it’s really not as bad as you’d think,” Kaede replied, putting her arms defensively around her stomach as if she was afraid she was about to be attacked. “Besides, if you’re judging it just on tonight, do remember that you don’t just suddenly find out you’re pregnant at this point. You have a lot of time to build up to this level of suffering.”</p><p>“Definitely not making me consider changing my mind, but thanks.” Cracking a smile, Maki headed into the bedroom (once again slamming the door behind her), leaving Kaede sitting there looking at everyone else as if they’d be able to explain why that conversation had gone how it did.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m not going to say that your explanation did any wonders on my stance on the whole child-bearing thing either,” Tenko admitted, as she was laying upside down on the couch, her legs kicking in the air. “It wasn’t ever something I was going to look into, not when we’ve already started wading through the adoption process, but making it sound like it’s nothing but a bad time doesn’t build confidence in how it works.”</p><p>Pouting as she hugged herself just a bit more, Kaede tried to set things straight with, “It’s not a bad time at all, but it isn’t anything fun either! I’d definitely, absolutely think twice about ever wanting to do this again, because it’s just so much energy and work and—” A scream of frustration coming from Maki in the bedroom interrupted her, and after Kaito poked his head in to check on her and was promptly yelled at to get out, she continued on, “—it’s so weird knowing that the thing you feel growing inside you is an actual person you’re going to be in charge of watching for the rest of your life.”</p><p>“I don’t want anything growing inside me, aside from magical talent, that is,” Himiko said from across the room, where she’d decided to play with Aika for the intermission. “Even though you did make a cute kid, you two.”</p><p>“Cute and good at attracting cats,” Ryoma added, raising a finger to make his point be known. “She’s a natural at it.”</p><p>“Thanks, no idea how she managed to get either of those traits when I’m half of her, but it happens.” Scratching at the back of his head, Shuichi was standing in the kitchen looking at everything, from the leftovers of dinner to the cake that had been hurriedly decorated once everyone had gotten back. He could tell based on how she hadn’t said anything about the compliments or how he’d responded to them that Kaede was bothered by what had happened, and he wanted to bring her something, but he wasn’t sure what she’d want in that moment and asking her would ruin part of the fun of things. What he ended up doing was grabbing a couple boxes of candy that were sitting on the counter and taking them to her, watching her face light up at the sight of the sweets and her eagerly take them off his hands.</p><p>The next movie started after everyone was back in their seats, Maki being the last one to return after coming out of the room grumbling to herself about whatever she’d been doing, and Kaito was at least kind enough to make his second offering an animated feature. It wasn’t the kind of movie anyone would really expect to watch at a grown man’s birthday party, but it was just fun enough that they all enjoyed it, even with the occasional distraction of a curious child coming to see what was singing in the room. The biggest benefit to it as a movie was that it was much, much shorter, which meant that when it ended as long of a break was not needed, because everyone hadn’t been stuck sitting there for two hours, with that one exception once again.</p><p>“I don’t think I’ve ever felt like I need to get up so much during anything in my life,” Kaede laughed as she was left sitting on the couch while everyone else was stretching their legs again. “Well, except for during the night. Shuichi knows all about how I just cannot lay there for long without needing to move.”</p><p>“Some nights it seems like a miracle we get any sleep at all, with how much she has to get up, and that’s not a good thing.” This time, Shuichi had taken to stretching out on the floor, giving a quite-tired Aika the chance to curl up on his lap and babble at him while he got to talk with everyone else. “I can’t help but think that the amount of sleep we’ll be getting when there’s two kids who need our attention is next to none, and we’re already rather deprived most days.”</p><p>“Maybe you should’ve thought that one through before you decided to make a second kid.” Her disdain very evident in her voice, Maki hadn’t locked herself back in the bedroom for rather obvious reasons but was instead walking around with her hands tapping against her legs, seemingly thinking about something specific. “There’s a concept, actually considering what consequences there are when you get at her unprotected.”</p><p>“E-excuse me, but that’s in the past, there’s nothing we can do about it now.” Feeling rather shamed for the decision they’d made all those months ago that they couldn’t do anything for or against where they currently were, Kaede wanted to get Maki to stop being so negative about things but she knew that changing her friend’s mind was just not possible. “Can we just stop bringing this up every time you get the chance?”</p><p>Maki stopped walking and turned to Kaede with an enlightened expression on her face, only to scowl and continue on with her pacing. “Sure, if you stop bringing your children with you into my home.”</p><p>“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Shuichi said, staring straight at Maki with the angriest eyes he could muster. “I get that you don’t care for kids, but this is getting ridiculous. If you don’t want them coming with us, we’ll respect that, but you then have to understand that we won’t be coming by as much anymore.”</p><p>“Fine by me,” she replied with a shrug, not bothered by his poor attempt at giving dagger-eyes at her. Her behavior was really rubbing them both the wrong way, but trying to speak reason into her wasn’t something that was going to happen, which meant that she’d be allowed to continue acting as she was with zero telling her she couldn’t.</p><p>Watching everything unfold in front of him, Ryoma took the spat as an opportunity to leave, heading straight for the door with his empty backpack slung over his shoulder. “Gotta get on out of here, if I stick around for too much longer then I’ll be getting into that grace period, and I’d rather not worry about that. Catch you all later, and happy birthday, Kaito.”</p><p>“Thanks for coming by, dude!” Kaito exclaimed from his spot near the bedroom door, where he was blocking Maki from being able to get in, seemingly just as unbothered by everything that had been going on as his wife was. He watched Ryoma leave, then stood up himself to go lock the door again, only to end up in the kitchen. “Anyone want a piece of cake before we start the next movie?” he offered, opening up the container to see his name decorated with stars on the frosting clear as day. “I’ll even let one of you get a piece of my name if you’d want it.”</p><p>“Actually, Kaito, as fun as this has been, I think we’re going to head out as well.” Just based on how Tenko seemed uneasy speaking it was clear she was only saying it because of the tension in the room. “For being a degenerate, you sure do know how to kick back and have a chill birthday, but we’ve had enough of it for tonight.” Sure enough, she and Himiko were both gone as fast as they could be, both giving birthday wishes before leaving in a hurry.</p><p>With less people present, he decided he’d take a piece of the cake for himself and leave everyone else to serve their own slices, and as he was sitting back down on the couch Maki made her break for the bedroom, slamming the door loudly when she entered. The noise started Aika back into being fully awake, and soon enough she was wailing for attention and love and somewhere quiet to sleep, and that was the cue for them to get out of there. “Whatever her problem is, I hate that she’s taking it out on us,” Kaede grumbled, looking at Kaito to see if he noticed what was happening. “She’s ruining your birthday because she doesn’t like that you invited us over with Aika.”</p><p>“Well, yeah, but that’s always been Maki Roll’s thing, she’s never been a fan of having kids around her, even if she’s good with them. It’s not something I can expect her to change about herself.” His passive attitude towards it all was frustrating, but knowing that her hands were tied Kaede resigned herself to holding the crying Aika as Shuichi packed everything back up that they’d brought with them. Kaito only seemed to get minorly upset as they were serious about leaving, because he wasn’t going to get to share in the cake and the next movie with them, but Shuichi did a fine job of explaining why it was that they felt they had to leave right then, and it was nothing to do with him.</p><p>But the truth of everything came out as they were closing the front door behind them and they heard Maki come out of the bedroom in their absence. She must have said something, because as the door was latching they both heard Kaito loudly exclaim that he was <em>more</em> than happy to see what his birthday present from her was. Sharing a look between them, Shuichi had to restrain himself from laughing too much, while Kaede, as straight-faced as she could be, echoed something Maki herself had said just a little bit before: “I hope he considers the consequences if he goes at her unprotected, but I don’t think he’s going to be thinking with his brain tonight.”</p><p><em>thirty-one</em>.</p><p>It had been hard to not let everything that had transpired that night bother Kaede, because she had figured out that Maki had been playing up her disdain of children just to get them all to leave as soon as possible. That didn’t mean that she’d gotten the apology she felt they deserved for putting up with it, nor did it mean anyone reached out to make sure there were no lingering hard feelings, but she was intending on moving past it all as best as she could. Messages had been exchanged with Tenko and Himiko and Ryoma, all three of them sympathetic to the verbal lashing that had been going on, but nothing had come from Kaito or definitely not Maki, and that was just how it seemed it was going to be.</p><p>To try and get her mind off of the long-lasting feeling of not being what her friend wanted her to be, Kaede had decided she was going to start focusing on everything else that she possibly could. Most of that was starting to get things ready for setting up the new baby’s room, which mostly boiled down to getting the things in Aika’s room ready to be moved out and into the new space, but they weren’t planning on doing that until closer to her birthday just to label the new furnishings as a present. There was also the aspect of making sure that the lullaby she’d written was absolutely perfect so that she could start playing it on a moment’s notice as soon as the new baby was around to hear it. That was challenging whenever Aika was around, because she was never quite content if the song being played wasn’t the one meant for her, and with her trying to get the hang of standing making her upset could have disastrous consequences at the wrong time.</p><p>Something that ended up worming its way into her mind on a regular basis was what she’d noticed when she’d been getting ready for Kaito’s get-together, about the state of her hair and how she could do with it not being quite so long. The last time she’d cut it was long before Aika had been born, and it showed, with split-ends that made the bottom half of the strands seem so much thicker in volume, as well as persistent knots in places she couldn’t always devote to brushing out. It was about time she got that all taken care of, and when better than on a rare weekday when Shuichi didn’t have to go into the office and could be at home to watch Aika for her.</p><p>“I promise I’m not going to come home with it almost all gone,” she told him after expressing her idea, him having no reason to suspect that would be the case at all. “Just going to take off the bottom part, and maybe thin through some of the rest, but I already know that this baby’s going to spend a lot of time learning to grab with my hair so, like, why not just get it fixed now before it gets worse then?”</p><p>“Can’t argue with that,” he replied, running a hand through his own hair, which had also gotten longer than he was accustomed to, but was still quite manageable as long as he kept it out of his face. “Maybe next time I’ll go get mine trimmed up, but it shouldn’t be as much to do as yours is, since mine usually doesn’t get baby hands wrapped up in it.”</p><p>She laughed, thanking him for understanding before going to get ready to go, ending up wearing almost exactly what she’d worn to Kaito’s, except with a different shirt that referenced her “mom hair”, and once she felt she was good to leave she did exactly that, but not before kissing both Shuichi and Aika both goodbye. The fact that she was willingly going somewhere was a testament to how much she felt she needed the haircut, because she was far past the point of not wanting to leave unless it was necessary. If she wasn’t able to walk out to the new van, she wouldn’t have been going anywhere at all, but the front seat of the van was a bit more spacious than the old car’s had been, and she could at least get in and have both her feet touch the pedals and her stomach not hit the steering wheel, which was all she needed, really.</p><p>Her choice in salon was one that was nestled in a boring shopping center near the house, a place she’d gone many times before; when she walked in, one of the stylists who’d been there every time she’d gone stopped what she was doing and greeted the customer, not realizing it was Kaede until she’d asked for her name. “Oh my goodness, look at you! You wear being pregnant very well, my dear!”</p><p>“Thank you, I’ve heard that a couple times and I guess I have to agree, or at least my body definitely agrees!” It was an uplifting thing to hear, but Kaede knew that she’d been away so long that the stylist was assuming this was her first child, not her second, and she didn’t know how to casually drop that fact. “I’m just here to get the ends of my hair cleaned up, nothing fancy, it’s not for a performance or anything.”</p><p>“I understand, sometimes a mom-to-be’s got to treat herself to something nice while she waits for her life to forever change.” The stylist punched some things into the register and motioned for Kaede to follow her to her workspace, where she was able to sit down and quickly get covered in the apron to keep her hair off her clothes. “How much are you thinking you want to take off?” she asked, grabbing her tools and beginning to comb through the damaged hair. “I think it’s got to be a handful of centimeters to get rid of everything that’s seen better days, but how many are you thinking? Four? Five?”</p><p>Scrunching her mouth to the side as she thought about the answer, Kaede ultimately decided that she didn’t have a decision made at all. “However much you think I need to take off to make it look nice. I promised Shuichi that I wouldn’t go crazy with cutting it off, but as long as it still hits my shoulders nicely it’ll be fine.”</p><p>“How’s he doing? It’s been a while since he’s been in here too, his hair must be all sorts of a disaster.” Laughing as she went through sizing up Kaede’s hair to make the best decision for it, the stylist noticed that she wasn’t getting an answer and cocked her head to the side, her reflection in the mirror showing Kaede what she was doing. “Something the matter? I didn’t think asking that would be too much of a problem since you brought him up.”</p><p>“No, I just…have to think about how to answer what you asked. It’s kind of complicated, but in a really fun way, I promise!” It was the opening Kaede had been hoping for, and it was the one she took, explaining in excited details about how the baby she was expecting wasn’t her first, but rather her second, and that her first child was at home and that was why she’d come by herself and not with Shuichi, who definitely did need a haircut as well but his wasn’t as bad as hers was so she got to come first.</p><p>By the time she’d felt like she’d explained everything decently well, the stylist had stopped all work completely and was trying her hardest not to laugh even a little at the waterfall of information she’d just been given. “Sounds like the two of you have yourselves quite the life,” she said with a single chuckle, before beginning to cut off some of the more damaged ends of Kaede’s hair. “I could’ve sworn I saw someone who looked just like him, same name and everything, on the news a while back, but I didn’t want to make any assumptions because for all I know, he’s got a doppelganger out there.”</p><p>“Er, uh, that was actually him,” Kaede told her, not wanting to get deep into that whole situation after she’d mostly moved past it herself. “A case he was investigating had a bad ending and he ended up having to do interviews about it because it was kind of a big deal in the law enforcement community. But I…don’t really like talking about that.”</p><p>“No worries, talk about the things you want to talk about!” Speaking in time with the snipping of her scissors, the stylist continued, “I’d love to hear more about your family, since you’ve obviously got a lot to talk about. How old’s the one you’ve got waiting for you at home, how long until you’ve got this one to contend with, give me all the details!” It wasn’t hard to get Kaede to start rambling about every aspect of her family life, and so for the duration of her haircut she was sitting there talking at great lengths about Aika and the second child, who she was honestly astounded wasn’t kicking the daylights out of her while she was sitting there.</p><p>That changed the moment her haircut was finished and she was able to stand up and admire herself in the mirrors, looking at her hair as it had gone from straggly and damaged at the ends to neatly cut right below the tops of her shoulders; the second her feet were both flat on the floor she felt a sharp movement right towards her pelvic bone and she nearly went right back to sitting down. “As fun as it is being pregnant, I’m so ready to get this baby into my arms so she can stop terrorizing me with her kicks and punches,” she had to explain when the stylist looked at her confused as to why she wasn’t enjoying the sight of her new haircut. “I feel like I should be counting down the days at this point, honestly.”</p><p>“Do you have any idea when you’re going to have her? You told me you’re thirty-five weeks but that doesn’t really…mean much in the long run, you know?” Grabbing a broom to sweep up the scattered strands of hair from around the chair, the stylist watched Kaede’s eyes shift back and forth in her reflection, before she ultimately shrugged at the question. “Yeah, sounds about right. When did you have your first?”</p><p>Now that was a question that she hadn’t been asked in a very long time, since when Aika was just a couple weeks old and everyone was so curious to know everything about her. “Forty-one weeks, but that was because I ended up being induced since she wasn’t going to come on her own. I’m really hoping that’s not the case this time, but if it looks like it’s going to go that way we’re going to plan for that same timeframe.”</p><p>“I wish you nothing but the best on that, carrying for that long twice in a row sounds like a certain kind of hell that no one should be subjected to. I’m going to hope you have her sooner than you’re expecting, maybe between thirty-eight and thirty-nine? As long as she’s full-term that’s what matters here, isn’t it?” Again she could see the shifting in Kaede’s eyes, which led her to give an exasperated response of, “What’s the problem this time? You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t like that!”</p><p>“No, no, I really would like that, it’d mean only a few more weeks of this, but you don’t understand. My other daughter’s birthday is a month from now, and because it’s her first birthday and that’s a big enough deal as it is, I really don’t want to be dealing with a newborn, or worse, <em>having</em> a baby on that day.” Finally able to stand up without being internally attacked for it, Kaede knew that by divulging that rather selfish reason for why she wanted this baby to hang on longer, she was definitely being judged, and because of that she only took a moment to admire her new haircut before going to pay, the stylist following her without any words being said.</p><p>The transaction was silent, the stylist completely aware that she’d heard something that was a bit of a sore subject, but before Kaede could leave she made sure to make it clear she wasn’t upset or disappointed in hearing that in the slightest. “You know, Kaede, you wanting to make your baby’s day the best it can be, even if it means you having to suffer longer, that’s a caring thing to want. These girls are lucky to have you in their lives.”</p><p>“Thanks, I appreciate you saying that,” she replied hastily, wanting nothing more than to go home and be done with the day. “Hopefully it won’t be years until I’m back in here.”</p><p>“Send Shuichi over so I can hear all about this from him if you think you’ll be a while.” Tapping her chin with a finger, the stylist looked over her shoulder at some of the empty chairs where her coworkers did their work, before looking back at Kaede, who was just about to walk out. “Oh! Bring your kids here too, I’ll break my ‘no children’ rule if it means I get to cut their hair.”</p><p>Seeing as haircuts for little girls wasn’t even something that Kaede had begun to think about, she accepted that offer with a meek nod before she was out the door, wishing she hadn’t said some of the things she had, and grateful she’d had such a kind, listening ear for others. She mentally worked through everything she’d said as she drove home, sitting outside in the car for a couple minutes before heading inside to see Shuichi and Aika in there waiting for her, the girl standing (mostly) unsupported and watching the door open in awe. “We’ve been working on walking,” Shuichi explained, sitting behind the girl with his hand holding her back up so that she didn’t fall flat. “How’d getting your hair cut go?”</p><p>“Well enough,” she replied, shaking her head to show him the amount of hair that had been taken off in the process. “I didn’t let her take it all at once, just like you requested, and it’s going to last me a while before I need to get it fixed again.” She made her way to her piano bench and took a seat, lifting one of her legs to try and get her shoe off of her foot, but she was distracted by the sight of Aika, realizing her mother was within reach, attempting to take a step forward and falling right onto her face.</p><p>Before he made any effort to grab her and comfort her as she started to cry, Shuichi looked at Kaede with something akin to an apologetic glance, almost as if he was sorry she was the one who dealt with that sort of thing most often. She didn’t feel it necessary to return any sort of expression, because there wasn’t anywhere she’d rather be than there with her little girl, watching her make those mistakes as she learned to navigate the real world.</p><p>It…was only a <em>month</em> until her first birthday, huh?</p><p><em>thirty-two</em>.</p><p>That month had no intentions of going by slowly, not with all of the things that were happening during it. It was to the point where Kaede was having appointments every other week, just to make sure that everything was fine and that she wasn’t going to be experiencing any late-term problems; the plan was set in stone that, if there was no sign of a natural labor starting by the day she hit forty-one weeks, she was going to be induced just like the first time, which was daunting given how rough of an experience Aika’s birth had been. There weren’t really any other options that were necessary at that moment, unless she wanted to subject herself to an unnecessary surgical procedure, so the date was marked down as the third of June being the latest birth date for the baby.</p><p>When she’d told Shuichi about that, all he’d said was that if that was the case, then the children wouldn’t share a birth month and that would make it easier to deter people from thinking they were possibly twins. She’d agreed with him on that, both out loud and on the inside, but deep down she secretly wished that she could try convincing people that the girls were actually twin sisters, just to get a reaction out of them that she’d always gotten when it came to herself and her sister and how her parents had always introduced them to people.</p><p>There was a lot going on that had them both mentally occupied with a major to-do list that needed to be shortened and quick. Most of Kaede’s limited energy, when it wasn’t being spent going to appointments and watching Aika, was being used to start going through all of the clothes they’d saved and setting aside all of the things that were in good condition, tossing out anything that had been stained beyond repair. It came as a reminder of how much their daughter had grown in almost a year when she’d pick up a onesie that she’d worn in her first days and weeks home, comparing it to the girl who had easily doubled in size in that time. “Did you know your baby sister’s going to get to wear this when she’s here?” she’d ask the little girl, who’d respond with babbles and the occasional <em>Ma</em> or <em>ba</em> that she threw in.</p><p>On the other hand, Shuichi had taken the task of getting the room together onto his own shoulders, decorating the walls and putting anything that was new or no longer being used in Aika’s room into place as he waited for when he could move the furniture. With the extra space, he was able to have more things out and ready, including things they’d been given to use with Aika but had stored away just in case they ever had a use for it. The blue walls were covered in images of butterflies and decorative swirls, all various colors and sizes, and even though it was missing all of the big pieces, it was quickly beginning to feel like the perfect place for a perfect little girl.</p><p>About two weeks before Aika’s birthday was the day that the new furniture was delivered, the things being labeled as birthday presents that were going to replace what was then going to be used as furniture for the new baby. Because there was very little in terms of assisting with getting it built that Kaede would be able to do, she was relegated to keeping Aika out from underfoot while Shuichi and a couple friends got everything taken care of. That was a task easier said than done, unfortunately, as every time someone who wasn’t one of her parents was in sight Aika wanted to rush to them and cling onto their legs. “I can’t promise I won’t kick her out of my way on accident if she gets there,” Kaito said when he initially came over that day to help, seeing Aika trying her best to get to him. “I wouldn’t mean to do it if I did it, but it could happen.”</p><p>“Then it’s a good thing I plan on having her right here with me the whole time,” Kaede happily replied, not bothered slightly by Kaito’s turn with the hypotheticals. She was laying on the couch with Aika beside her, the girl’s grabby hands reaching towards Kaito even though he was across the room. “There’s no way at all she’ll get underfoot, unless someone intentionally puts her there.”</p><p>He chuckled and headed into the smaller bedroom, where the old furniture still needed to be removed, and Maki came into the house after him, her icy glare in Kaede’s direction doing enough speaking to justify her voice not saying a thing. Why she was still acting so angry wasn’t a mystery, but it didn’t explain why she’d decided to come to help, and that was what Kaede was curious about. She wasn’t going to ask and try finding out while there was still work to do, because she at least had the sense to not anger Maki more and cause her to storm out and leave Kaito to be the sole assistant that day.</p><p>So, instead of getting to the bottom of what was going on right then, she had to put up with the constant coldness coming from Maki every time she came through the living room with various things that were being transported across the house. At least when Kaito and Shuichi were out there, they were making conversation and acting like it wasn’t a horrible thing that they had to put in the physical labor, but Maki was on a different level. She was rolling her eyes when she’d see Kaede, if she wasn’t glaring, and she wouldn’t say a word if she knew she’d be heard. It was very much unlike her, even with her cold and oftentimes standoffish nature, to be acting in such a way, and while laying on the couch keeping Aika in check, Kaede began to suspect that her friendship wasn’t anything close to as strong as it had been once upon a time.</p><p>That changed once the old furniture had been moved and the new things were in the process of being built, the guys deciding to work together as a team to get it all put together, and Maki suddenly found herself no longer needed in their space. “Look, I don’t know what your problem is with me, but I’d think you’d get over it by now,” she said when she was nearly forced out into the living room, surprising Kaede with how pointed and seemingly incorrect her jab was. “Are you really going to act like this for the rest of your life?”</p><p>“I’m sorry, what?”</p><p>“Lazy, completely unhelpful, acting like you need to be waited on hand and foot while everyone around you puts in actual work.” Leaning against a wall as far from where Kaede was as she could, Maki could see the sense of confusion she was creating within her, and she was taking every opportunity she could to make it worse. “Least you could do is offer to help with something, rather than making us do it all.”</p><p>“Excuse me? I helped as much as I could, and I’m still helping now, aren’t I?” Pulling herself to sitting up just a bit, despite the dual discomforts of Aika and the baby both resting on her in different places, Kaede was trying her best to hide just how blown away she was by these out-of-nowhere accusations being thrown in her direction. “If you’d rather, I’ll let Aika get on the floor and she’ll come right to you to give you a big, slobbery welcome, I’m sure.”</p><p>Maki’s eyes narrowed, focusing right on the little girl, who had ended up with one of her various toys in her mouth as she sat unaware of what was going on around her. “You let her do that and I’ll do what Kaito said he wouldn’t.”</p><p>“Kick her and you’re dead, and that’s not a threat I’ll back down on.” Immediately after saying those words Kaede knew that she’d crossed a line that she shouldn’t have, but before she could even start to apologize she saw the angry façade that Maki had put on start to shatter, her cracking a smile that anyone would have been able to note was genuine. “W-what’s that look for?”</p><p>“I’m sure it’s you being a ‘mother bear’ or whatever, but you being willing to try and kill someone who makes a living taking out people is about the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time.” Pushing herself off the wall, Maki didn’t come too close to the couch, but she definitely stepped closer than she had been. “I wouldn’t have expected that coming from you, when you’re looking like you currently are. Pretty sure the worst you could do right now would be sit on me.”</p><p>Hesitating as she thought about how that came off as an insult, but was pretty accurate, Kaede gently moved Aika off of her so that she could sit up more, struggling to get fully up but managing it after a few moments of effort. “Yeah, well, with this baby here, I could probably break you if I sat on you. Wouldn’t be so terrifying if you’re broken because a pregnant woman used you as a seat, huh?”</p><p>“Nope, and that’s why I’m not going to even try you. Can’t risk my reputation being damaged by something so silly.” It was a relief to hear Maki making a joke like that, but the fact that she’d been sour for as long as she had before getting to that point was slightly bothersome. It ended up being a good thing that she was ready to explain herself for that behavior, without being prompted. “Look, I’m sorry about coming in and acting like a bitch for no reason, it’s just…difficult to think about you and Shuichi and about how the two of you feel like you’re not really our friends anymore.”</p><p>“We never stopped being your friends, or at least, I never did, and I’m sure he hasn’t stopped either because he invited you over to help.” She knew what it was that Maki was dancing around, and she knew that getting her to talk about that problem was going to be a much harder battle. “I just want to know why you decided that the best way to handle you thinking I’m not your friend was to act like that.”</p><p>“I don’t know, because it felt easiest?” Tugging at her long hair, pulled back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way as much as possible, Maki curled her mouth to the side and gave a small pout. “I just really don’t like being around kids, which you know, and it’s almost like spending time over here means being subjected to one of those terrors, and it’ll be two of them soon enough. Do you think I enjoy that?”</p><p>Kaede knew the answer, and shook her head to solidify it. “No, I know you don’t enjoy it, but you’ve known Aika for almost a year and never once given her a real chance, and you’re going to do the same the moment you meet her sister. You’re so caught up in your dislike of children that you refuse to think that maybe, just maybe, there are children out there that you can like.”</p><p>“Funny that you think those children would be yours,” Maki said after a couple tense seconds where she was forced to think about her actions as a whole, “but I get the point you’re trying to make here. I can’t promise you that I’ll suddenly like kids, but I’ll at least try to not be so nasty around them. However, that’s not me saying I’ll go out of my way to be nice to them either. Sound fair, Kaede?”</p><p>“It sounds better than you giving me death glares every time you see me because you hate that I’m a mom, so sure, it’s fair.” There was no way that Maki was going to actually follow through with what she’d said she’d do, but Kaede liked being able to entertain the thought that she would. “I’m glad we could talk this out before it spiraled out of control, that would be horrible if you weren’t there to be the first friend to hold the baby this time.”</p><p>Her jaw dropping, Maki shook her head slowly at first, before it began to pick up speed until she was going rapid-fire with her shakes. “There’s no way I’m doing that again, you’re picking someone else this time and that’s that. Ask me to hold her first for real and I’ll walk right out of the room.”</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>thirty-three</em>.</p><p>Even though getting her room set up with new furniture was technically her birthday present, it was not the only thing that Aika was getting that year for her big day, and from the moment both her room and her sister’s were finished it was time to focus on her actual birthday celebration. Invitations were sent out when it became clear that it was going to take a miracle to move the baby from where it was currently safe and warm, meaning there was no chance that the birthday party would be interrupted with a big arrival, and once a tentative guest count had been made planning could be put into full swing. It was never meant to be a giant affair, but when nestled in the invitation was a note that presents for the unborn baby were also appreciated, people seemed more eager to attend.</p><p>What ended up happening was a lot of decorating of the living room with pink and purple balloons and streamers and pictures of rainbows and ponies and anything remotely cutesy that could be picked up without needing to go to a party store, because Shuichi was the one who had to buy the supplies so that Kaede wasn’t too tired to hang everything up. Not only was there all the decorations that needed to go up, but there were presents that needed to be wrapped (but only the ones specifically for Aika, if it was clearly not meant for her it was put in a gift bag to be re-opened in front of the guests) as well as the food for the day that needed to be prepared.</p><p>Never having been the best cook around, it was quite the challenge for Kaede to get anything made with Aika constantly underfoot and the dishes she needed always seeming to be too low for her to get on her own. She’d had to call Shuichi into the kitchen so many times the morning of the party, her struggling to reach down and grab something that would require more of a squat than she could physically provide in that moment, and if he hadn’t taken the day off work specifically because of what it was, she would have been sorely out of luck. He found it endearing to have to help her, always grabbing what she needed and giving her a kiss before moving Aika out of the kitchen to give her a little bit of breathing room while she slowly made progress through her plans for the food.</p><p>The biggest thing was that she was only making snacks for everyone to enjoy, because they’d specially ordered a cake for everyone to eat, as well as a smaller one for Aika to have all to herself. No matter how tempting it was to bake something herself, she couldn’t fall into that trap and sacrifice time that needed to be spent getting everything else cooked on making something delicious that she would inevitably eat all on her own. Being the one in charge of cooking was a dangerous place for her right then, as she was finding it hard to resist taking samples of everything she was making, even though she knew that she needed to have enough for the party, not just her and her currently insatiable hunger.</p><p>When she did end up giving in to those temptations and try making yet another cake to go along with the two store-bought ones, she was quickly thwarted by the pan she’d need being on the lowest shelf in the cabinet, and calling Shuichi in to grab it for her would mean him knowing she’d strayed from her given task. If there ever was a time that she would willingly get herself stuck in a squat for the sake of doing something herself, that would have been it, but she put the ingredients she didn’t need back where they belonged and resumed making the things on the list, no further straying allowed.</p><p>It was mid-afternoon when the first guests started to arrive, coming into a house that was bigger than it had been the last time they’d been over, and a lot more decorated than they’d ever seen it. “I will most certainly stay behind afterward to assist with the cleanup,” Kirumi said, not an offer but a promise, as she set a bag down on the card table that had been acquired solely to act as a gift table, its cheap pink tablecloth wrinkling at the weight of something resting on it. “That, or I will be here to watch the birthday girl while everyone else does the cleaning, I cannot complain either way.”</p><p>The person who had come in with Kirumi was hanging back by the door, admiring the way there were vibrant streamers hanging everywhere with an awed look in her eyes, but from in the kitchen Kaede was watching <em>her</em> intently. “I don’t know what possessed me to invite Angie to this, but I’m sort of glad she could make it,” she said, looking at the woman who was barely dressed underneath her floor-grazing jacket she was wearing, watching as she set down a giant, nearly flat wrapped gift on the table. “And she brought some sort of painting it seems. Great, exactly what we need, more decorations we’ve got no room to actually put up.”</p><p>“Yoo-hoo, Kaede! I can see you, you know!” Angie called with a giant wave, making Kaede take a big step backward and further into the kitchen, even though she knew the damage had been done. “Come on out here, I want to see how you shine with the glow and sparkle that motherhood brings to someone!”</p><p>Regretting the decision she’d made to ever send that invitation in the first place, Kaede took in a deep breath before stepping out of the kitchen just long enough to hear Angie excitedly gasp, and then promptly going right back in. “I’m working on food still, sorry I can’t come out and socialize for long right now,” she lied, hoping that her deception wasn’t too obvious. Everything she was cooking at the moment didn’t need her constant supervision, and she could have easily gone out and talked to someone she hadn’t seen in a long while.</p><p>There was a reason for that, naturally, and she’d forgotten about it when she’d sent the friendly invitation, thinking that it would be nice to invite Angie to the festivities, despite her never having met Aika before. “I’ll just come over there, Atua isn’t stopping me from crossing this house!” she called out, before something stopped her. “Oh, Atua might not be, but Kirumi is! I’ll talk to you later then!”</p><p>“Thank everything for Kirumi,” Kaede muttered under her breath, wishing she had a chair in the kitchen with her and knowing she couldn’t go grab one without the truth coming out. Her legs were starting to ache, as was her lower back, and she couldn’t help but wonder how much longer she’d be able to stay on her feet before her legs buckled. She found things to do idly in the kitchen while she continued to avoid going out to see Angie at all costs, becoming her downfall when Shuichi came in to see what was going on a few minutes later and found her holding onto the counter to support herself as she attempted some back stretches.</p><p>“Er, why don’t you go have a seat instead of doing that?” he asked, catching her mid-stretch and hearing her almost scream at the surprise his voice had given her. “I can watch the food for you, although it doesn’t look like there’s much you’re watching.”</p><p>“No thanks, I’m fine right where I am,” she replied, knowing she was digging herself a deeper hole with her lies than she needed to. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be going to get our cakes before more guests get here?”</p><p>He shook his head, doing her a favor and drawing her a chair because she clearly wasn’t doing it for a reason he wasn’t aware of. “Ryoma said he’d pick them up on his way, since his place is right down the road from the cake shop. He’ll be here soon enough, I’m sure; we were talking about this half an hour ago, before Angie and Kirumi and even Kaito got here.”</p><p>“That makes sen—wait, Kaito’s here?” Never more thankful for a chair in her life, Kaede had been in the middle of sitting down when those words slapped her across the face. “How did he get in without immediate coming in here to talk to me, or being loud enough to alert the neighborhood to their favorite friendly space case being around?”</p><p>“No idea, I opened the door and he went straight into Aika’s room, and I haven’t heard a thing since. I’m going to guess he noticed her sleeping before the festivities and took a nap with her. That’s really just a guess, I really don’t have any idea why that’d be where he goes first.” Shuichi shrugged at his own suggestion, not really buying it as plausible, and headed back to whatever he’d been doing before (which was sitting in the living room waiting for anyone to arrive, so that he’d be the one to let them inside). That left Kaede still in the kitchen, still with the excuse of watching food that didn’t need her eyes on it, still without any desire to go out and talk to one of the guests she’d invited to the party in the first place, but maybe when more people arrived she’d bite that bullet.</p><p>True to her plan, once everyone who’d been invited that day had arrived, complete with presents for the birthday girl and the things they were bringing for the party in tow, she was able to leave the kitchen and not immediately be spotted by Angie. “Are you going to be able to make it through today?” Tenko warily asked her, eyeing her from head to toe. “I don’t mean any harm with this, but I don’t remember you looking this…size before you had Aika.”</p><p>“You also didn’t see me in that last week, I’ll be fine. According to my last several appointments, this baby’s not going anywhere until they tell her she’s evicted, and that’s not until two weeks from now.” Forcing a laugh, even as Tenko tried to smile to show she was believing her, Kaede wished she could’ve given a different answer right then. She knew that they saw zero harm in her going to forty-one weeks again, but she so desperately wanted to be done carrying around a lot more weight than she’d carried the first time around. Her whole body ached constantly, but nowhere more than her entire abdomen, wrapping around to her back that was straining to hold her up straight when she was doing anything but laying down. “We’re going to make today about Aika, though, <em>not</em> this baby. Right, Tenko?”</p><p>“Right, it’s only one kid’s birthday today and that’s the way you’re planning on keeping it.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t that be cool, though, both babies having the same birthday?” Himiko said, before rethinking her statement. “Maybe not, that could create some jealousy when they get older. I don’t think you want your girls being jealous of each other.”</p><p>“That’d be correct,” Kaede agreed, hoping that the conversation would turn away from one of her deepest-held fears for the day. She didn’t want to admit to it out loud, but she was completely terrified that this baby was going to defy the expectations of the doctors and want to come out earlier than anticipated, which had been why she’d been so hesitant to plan a party in the first place. “Anyway, shouldn’t we start having birthday festivities, rather than just sitting around talking to boring old me?”</p><p>They all looked at each other and laughed, Tenko actually bringing tears to her own eyes with how funny she thought that statement was. “This birthday party’s for a one-year-old, there can’t be that much in the way of festivities to get to,” she cried out, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with the collar of her shirt to wipe up some of her tears. “That’s easily the funniest damn thing you’ve said in a long time, Kaede.”</p><p>“I hoped someone would get a kick out of it,” she replied, setting a hand on part of her stomach where a real kick was most likely to happen, given how active the baby had been in the past, but there was no such luck. “But seriously, we can’t sit around chatting all day when we can do that any other day. I’m almost certain Kaito’s done something to Aika, given that I don’t think he’s come out of her room yet.”</p><p>“Oh, he’s done something to her,” Shuichi said, cutting in without any of them having realized he was listening in the first place, as he came up behind Kaede and rested his arms on the top of her head. “Turns out he and Maki got quite the large gift for Aika, and he’s doing the honors of getting her ready for it.”</p><p>“What kind of gift could they possibly get that needs preparations?” she asked, before hearing someone clear their throat, a someone she knew she hadn’t invited but was a welcome sound, and she leaned forward (bucking Shuichi’s arms off of her) to try and look behind her well enough to see the guest. “Mahiru! Did they really invite you?”</p><p>Beaming, tilting her red-haired and freckle-faced head to the side, Mahiru replied, “They sure did. My number must be at the top of his contacts list, because Kaito called me about this months ago. I, of course, couldn’t refuse since it’s for Aika, but…why didn’t you contact me when you…well, I’m sure you remember why we met in the first place.”</p><p>It took Kaede a moment to fully understand what Mahiru was referring to, but all it took was looking down at herself to have everything click into place. “I don’t know why, really,” she admitted, not wanting to say it was because of the financial burden pictures would have been on them when money was already difficult to come by. “I guess because I went through it with you the first time, why would I need to go through it again?”</p><p>“I’m sure you’d fill out those dresses even better this time around,” Mahiru told her, before grabbing her camera from around her neck and taking off the lens cap. “Actually, you’re looking fantastic right now, so if you don’t mind, may I get a couple shots of the stunning mother of the birthday girl?”</p><p>Looking between each other, Tenko and Himiko got up from their chairs. “Don’t mind us, we’re going to go see what everyone else is up to,” Tenko said in assurance, pushing aside the chairs they’d been sitting in to clear the area. “We’ll catch you later, Kaede! Enjoy your picture time!”</p><p>Even Shuichi was backing away from the scene, just so that Mahiru could do as she wished in regards to posing and positioning, telling them both that he’d be there just in case they needed him for something. While Kaede didn’t feel even slightly worthy of having professional pictures taken in that moment, she knew better than to turn down Mahiru’s request, so she let it go on for exactly as long as the photographer felt necessary, going through all the motions she was prompted to make. It definitely was nowhere near as glamorous as the first time she’d had pictures taken, but there was a certain level of sentimentality that she knew she was going to get from seeing those shots.</p><p>“I’ll get these to you when I get all of the rest of today’s pictures,” Mahiru told her when they’d finished the shoot. “Hopefully it won’t take too long, but the last birthday party I shot for, I had several thousand pictures to sort through, so it could be a while.”</p><p>“We’ll get them when we get them, and that’s fine, we had no idea you’d be here anyway so it wasn’t like we were expecting anything.” Kaede paused, put a finger to her lips, and thought for a moment before adding, “Well, you know, except for…”</p><p>“I got you, don’t worry!” With a laugh, Mahiru closed her camera’s lens and headed off to go find the birthday girl she was there to take pictures of, and in her wake Kaede sighed and shook her head, going back to sitting as comfortably as she could in one of the chairs. Now that she didn’t have her friends or a photographer there, she was able to properly reflect on what was going on, and get her feet up while she did it.</p><p>It really wasn’t much of a party, and most of the people that were there were sitting around talking amongst themselves, occasionally motioning towards the expansions of the home, and she knew that if she could hear what they were saying, some of it was not going to be positive. She was almost certain people were being judgmental, criticizing them for their choices that had led them to needing to make their home bigger, and she wasn’t looking forward to when she’d have to talk to some of them. In fact, she was so afraid of talking in-person to so many of the guests she’d invited, she wanted to go hide in the kitchen again, despite having no reason to do so.</p><p>“Kaede, come over here!” Tenko hollered from where she and Himiko had made themselves comfortable on the couch when they’d been forced to vacate their seats, and she looked to see that the people they’d been talking to had left the room. She hesitated a second before accepting the request and walking over, nearly making it before a crowd came out of Aika’s tiny bedroom, fronted by Kaito almost proudly holding the little girl up over his head.</p><p>All the eyes in the room fell onto the group, watching the girl nearly scraping the ceiling with how she was held, her eyes wide and her dark hair tied up into the best little pigtails it could manage, screeching like she was having the time of her life. “What are you doing to my baby?” Kaede jokingly asked, standing just in front of the group because she hadn’t been able to quite make it to where she was headed. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to terrify her with how high up she is.”</p><p>“She’s enjoying it,” Kaito asserted, raising Aika up just a bit higher, almost having his arms fully extended. “She was liking it more when her dad was doing it, but he’s a bit, uh, tied up right now.”</p><p>Blinking in surprise, Kaede wasn’t sure how to take that. “What do you mean, he’s tied up? Wasn’t he in there with you?”</p><p>“He was for a bit, but then he went outside with Maki Roll. No idea what they’re up to out there.” It was true, there was no sign of either of them in the crowd, and the frown that made its way to Kaede’s face was one of disappointment, but Kaito was not going to let her be upset about the turn of events. “Hey now, it’s all good! Isn’t today supposed to be about Aika? Why does it matter what her dad’s up to?”</p><p>“I guess that’s true.” Her eyes still on Aika and how close she was to knocking her head against the ceiling, Kaede wanted to tell Kaito to put her down, but he did so of his own accord, handing her off not to her mother but to Kirumi, who seemed to have been waiting for the chance to hold her. “What, do you guys have an order of who gets to hold Aika right now? When was that decided?”</p><p>“A lot happened in that bedroom.” Ryoma was the one who answered, coming out from behind where Kirumi and Kaito were both standing and hopping up on the couch to take a seat. “Kind of a disaster from the moment Shuichi left, but I think we’ve got things under control for the next while.”</p><p>“I’ll believe it, I guess.” Looking over to where her friends were sitting and seeing them both shrugging as they’d had nothing to do with the group in the bedroom, Kaede decided that she wasn’t going to put more energy into it than she needed to, mostly because the whole party to begin with was incredibly draining. “I hope they come back soon, I’d like to get things going before Aika decides she needs to take a nap.”</p><p>The general consensus was that yes, it would be for the best if the party was able to get through its big moments before there was a tired and fussy child on everyone’s hands. Ever the kindhearted friend, Kaito volunteered himself to go out and fetch the others, while the passing around of the girl continued, her enamoring everyone who got their hands on her with her sparse teeth in her smile and her way of giggling every chance she had. He was gone for a few minutes, which came as a surprise, but in that time everyone else who was inside (minus Kaede and Mahiru) was able to hold Aika for a little bit and pictures were taken of each and every time she ended up in someone else’s hands.</p><p>“I’m never going to get over how she’s gotten so big in just a year,” Himiko said when she was the one getting to hold Aika, the girl choosing to puff her cheeks up and exhale her held breaths, laughing, then doing it all over again. “I remember when I saw her the first time, she was just a small little baby. This wasn’t magic that did this, although it feels magical.”</p><p>“And someday we’ll be able to watch a baby of our own grow up like we’ve watched her,” Tenko reminded her, “and that’ll really be magical, won’t it?” The way Himiko nodded showed that she definitely was in total agreement, and even when she was no longer holding onto Aika, she still had the look of determination to get to see that real-life magic again.</p><p>“Sorry about the delay, we had something come up that needed to be taken care of before it became a problem,” Kaito loudly announced when he came back into the home, with Shuichi and Maki in tow. “The problem, of course, being some presents getting lost on their way here and someone—” he grandly gestured towards Maki, who shielded her face with her hands, “—decided she would go cause a scene on the phone to get things sorted.”</p><p>“I only went to help because I didn’t want her causing too much of a scene on our behalf,” Shuichi explained, seeing Kaede looking straight at him with a confused look in her eyes. “I’ll tell you all about it later, but it’s nothing to do with today’s party.”</p><p>Her confusion did not wane, but hearing him say he’d tell her later let her know that there was no point in dwelling on things. “Okay, I guess that’s fair,” she said, giving him a small nod. “I think we’re ready to start the actual party, though, since everyone’s here and ready and we don’t want Aika screaming and crying when she’s done with everything, even if we’re all not. So…shall we?” The request was one that made zero sense to ignore, and so the group arranged themselves around the house, sitting in the various chairs and moving the couch to get it into the circle they were all making.</p><p>They had laid out Aika’s months blanket in the middle of the floor, which she was sitting on in her birthday dress with her hands idly grabbing at its hem. She was unfazed by the people that were around them, the ones who were strangers to her sitting behind her so that they weren’t a distraction, and her favorite people to see that weren’t her parents close to where she’d be looking if she stopped playing with her dress. On the blanket, they’d placed the markers around the number 12, signaling that it was her twelfth month—her first birthday—and once she’d been pushed to set her dress down, Mahiru pulled out the camera and Aika lit up for it, allowing for her to get many beautiful pictures of the moment.</p><p>From there they went right into the next portion of the celebration, knowing that time was not something they had a lot of that day. The blanket was removed and replaced with a plastic sheet, while Aika was picked up and her high chair was moved into the middle of the room, sitting on the sheet and waiting for her to be put in it. Shuichi took care of getting her situated in her chair, while Kaede went into the kitchen to grab the smallest of the cakes they had for the day, which was there for Aika and only Aika. As she carried it into the room, she could hear the shutter of Mahiru’s camera going off over and over, sometimes taking pictures of her and sometimes taking pictures of the girl who was confused about why she was in the chair in the first place.</p><p>In time with the cake being set down on the tray in front of Aika, the room began to fill with wishes of happy birthday, but singing did not happen until Kaede got onto her piano bench and began playing the tune for everyone to sing along to. At the sound of music, and not the sight of her cake in front of her, Aika began to clap loudly, making it seem like she was cheering for herself, but everyone knew it was because she was entranced by her mother’s playing. When the song finished (after two plays because Tenko, Angie, and Kaito, independently of each other, yelled for an encore), Shuichi guided Aika’s hands carefully into the cake, letting her take a finger of frosting on each hand to taste it, and when she’d gotten the sweet flavor into her mouth, she immediately wanted more.</p><p>A rowdy cheer erupted through the room when the girl, determined to get as much of the frosting as she could, slammed her face into the cake, pulling it out right away to show that she had frosting sticking everywhere from eyebrows to eyelashes, to the wispy hairs at the top of her head and down to the bottom of her chin. She licked everything off her lips, while Shuichi was trying to get a hand in to help clean it off of her eyes so she could at least see, which became a problem when Aika tried to repeat her act and caught his hand instead, taking it into the cake with her.</p><p>By far, it was more amusing than had ever been anticipated, and even once there wasn’t frosting to keep slamming her face into (on that side of the cake, anyway), Aika was having the time of her life with picking at it with her hands. “Go on, get in there so I can get a family picture,” Mahiru told Kaede, who was still sitting on her piano bench. “It’s irreplaceable and I think you’d regret me not getting one.”</p><p>“Oh, okay, I suppose,” Kaede replied, standing up and moving to where she’d be in the picture. Mahiru was able to get one in before Aika, realizing that her mom was there and hadn’t been present for all of the fun with frosting, reached over and smacked a cake-covered hand right onto the most easily accessible part of her mom that she could reach, which just happened to be the side of her stomach.</p><p>As fate would have it, the moment that Aika’s hand made contact, she was met with a forceful hit from within, and her squeal she gave off at the feeling underneath her palm led to her smacking again and again. “Ba!” she screamed, trying to lean over and get closer to her mom. “Ba! Ma, ba!”</p><p>“What is she going on about?” Shuichi asked, watching the smacking happening and seeing the almost shocked look on Kaede’s face as she was looking down at the almost unreal sequence of events happening beside her.</p><p>“The baby’s kicking, that’s all.” Saying it rather nonchalantly, Kaede was not expecting everyone to overhear her, but the gasps that she heard told her that they’d caught what she’d said. “I guess she wants to be a part of today’s events, even if she’s not ready to be here yet.”</p><p>Nothing, no matter what happened for the rest of the party, was going to top Aika’s cake-covered hand being enough to summon her sister to start moving around. It didn’t matter what the presents were, what other cute things that Aika did on her own, because everyone had seen the sisterly bonding moment and that was going to be the top memory of the day.</p><p>
  <em>thirty-four.</em>
</p><p>“So…what was that you guys were outside dealing with?” It was after the party, everyone except Kaito and Maki having gone home for the day, and they were all in the process of cleaning up. Aika had been put to bed, so since the issue that had taken them outside had nothing to do with her party, it felt like it was an appropriate time for Kaede to bring it back up. “I’m really curious, since even Shuichi seems to be in on it.”</p><p>“That, right,” Maki said, setting down the armful of streamers she’d collected from Kaito that he’d been pulling down. “Honestly, I’d hoped you’d forgotten all about that with everything else that went on today, but…”</p><p>“Oh, trust me, even with being badgered by Angie about clothing sizes for almost an hour I’d never forget that you guys delayed the start of the party for a while because you weren’t here.” Laughing, Kaede rest her arms on top of her stomach and waited for Maki’s answer, which seemed to not be coming anytime soon.</p><p>So instead, she looked at Kaito and expected him to step in and explain things. “I’ve got nothing to do with this one, it’s all them,” he asserted, gesturing towards Maki and Shuichi with his head. “Getting Mahiru here was my idea, the rest of it wasn’t.”</p><p>“You’re actually in on it?” Looking at Shuichi now, growing more confused by the second, she saw him give a meek smile in her direction. “Come on, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on because it didn’t happen today!”</p><p>“I’m buying you a bunch of new things for the baby.” Finally coming out and saying it, Maki spoke quietly, almost as if she didn’t want Kaede to hear her admitting to what she’d done. “I wanted the stuff to get here today, so Aika’s things would stay hers and the new baby’s would be separate, but it didn’t happen. Shuichi’s only in on it because I needed to know what would be appreciated. There, happy?”</p><p>Her bottom lip beginning to quaver, Kaede had to sit down and collect herself as a wave of emotions took over her body, the kindness of someone who she knew didn’t like children such a strange gesture. “I’m so happy about this, yeah,” she admitted, “because I know that doing this is for us, not for the baby, but you’ve still done it. Whenever the things get here, they’ll be so appreciated, because they’re from you.”</p><p>“Yeah, well, you’re welcome.” Forcing a smile for just long enough to get Kaede to start crying, Maki rolled her eyes as the waterworks started and resumed helping Kaito with collecting the streamers from the walls. “I’m just trying to help how I can.”</p><p>“We’ll let you know when it gets here, although you’ll probably be over here when it does happen,” Shuichi said, stopping his own cleaning to go comfort Kaede with some gentle shoulder pats. “These next two weeks are going to be pretty crazy around here, all things considered, and those things getting here is only going to add to the craziness.”</p><p>Pointing out that it was only two weeks until their live would be getting upturned again made Kaede start crying harder, overcome with too many feelings to know what to do. “It’s going to be so wild as we get closer to meeting this girl,” she choked out, hugging herself to try calming down but only making things worse. “I’m really looking forward to it, but I’m also not, there’s so much we’ve got to do before then. And now adding this present into the mix and I don’t know how we’re going to make it all work.”</p><p>“Don’t worry, we’ll be here to help any way we can!” Kaito proclaimed, throwing the last bit of the streamers down into Maki’s waiting arms. “It’s gonna be a team effort with all of us to get you where you need to be before you’re off havin’ that baby, and since Maki Roll went overboard on the buying gifts, it’s only right for us to have to be in charge of getting those put away for you. And watching Aika when you need her watched. And, uh, maybe just coming over to chill while there’s only one kid underfoot?”</p><p>“I think all of that would be appreciated,” Shuichi told him, having moved on to rubbing Kaede’s back as she was still crying. “Just…thank you for being such good friends. It’s what we need right now.”</p><p>
  <em>thirty-five.</em>
</p><p>One of the biggest things about pregnancy as a whole that came as a shock was that just because the numbers said that forty weeks was all a baby needed to be ready to come into the world, it didn’t mean that it was going to happen at exactly forty weeks. The first time around, that had been a bit of a blow to Kaede, who’d thought that she’d hit that mark and be done with things, but she’d been more than prepared the second time, even though people insisted that subsequent children were born earlier than the one before them. So when she got to the forty week, full-term mark, and she was standing in front of the baby’s board for her weekly picture, she knew that she was still going to make it to the next week’s picture with no baby in her arms.</p><p>That was confirmed once again when she went to her appointment that day, the doctor running through the exam rather quickly just because it was all routine, all done for the paperwork and not because it was going to tell them anything they didn’t already know. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if even the strongest medication drips wouldn’t get this kid out of there,” the doctor confessed after doing every measurement and check she possibly could. “We’re going to be hopeful, of course, but we’re going to be realistic and have the whole team ready to get you under the kn—”</p><p>“Hold on, what?” Not wanting to hear the rest of that word, Kaede was going wide-eyed at the idea that things were not going to go according to the plan they’d set. “But you’ve said she’s in position, haven’t you? Why are we talking about her needing to be <em>cut out</em> of me?”</p><p>“—Mrs. Saihara, please don’t stress yourself out. It’s merely a precaution that we need to keep in mind with how…your body seems to not want to be progressing. Usually by now, even if we’re planning for an induction, there’s some signs of progress.” Pressing her hands together as she held her clipboard underneath her arm, the doctor looked at Kaede with a very genuine smile. “I’m going to be hopeful that you’ll have some dramatic change over the next week, to make the induction easier, but if that isn’t the case then we’ll have our plan B set up and ready to go.”</p><p>“I’m not agreeing to having them cut me open to get her out,” she replied, panic rising in her mind as she thought about how recovering from that would be so much worse than recovering from the birth she was planning for. “I have someone at home to be watching, not just this baby, if I’ve got a giant scar to be babying then I’ll be useless at my job.”</p><p>Understanding why she was so bothered by the idea, the doctor decided to give a quick explanation about what would actually be happening, and after the basic details were delivered it became clear that it didn’t matter what the truth was, Kaede was not interested in going through a surgical procedure when she’d planned to have a natural birth, and she was going to fight tooth and nail to make sure things went the way she wanted them to. “Just don’t worry too much about what we’ve talked about today, you and the baby are both still doing fine and that’s what matters.” The doctor paused, before adding, “But if you really want to better your chances on getting her out on your terms, you should look into exercises and maybe even some wives’ tales. I can’t agree that they’ll work, but they’d be a way you can try taking things into your own hands.”</p><p>“Oh, trust me, I plan on making sure I get things my way,” Kaede replied, deciding right there that she was not going to let anything that happened when she went into the birthing center the next week go against her own plans. “I’m going to the store when I’m done here and I’m getting anything that might help me get this baby out the way I want her out.”</p><p>They shared a laugh, the doctor wishing her nothing but the best, and she was soon on her way, sending Kaito a text to let him know she was done. Why he was the one that had volunteered to drive her over and pick her up when everyone else was busy, she had no idea, but she knew that he’d been eager to help them with watching Aika and he was decent enough at driving her minivan when she couldn’t, physically, get herself behind the wheel and still get her feet on the pedals. He was there in minutes, Aika in her carseat in the back babbling away as she played with a couple cloth dolls she’d gotten for her birthday, and as she was climbing into the passenger’s side seat she noticed that he was focused more on the kid in the back than on her getting in. “Mind if we run over to the mall?” she asked, the sound of her voice startling Kaito into giving her attention. “I need to get some steps in and some exercise things before I go home.”</p><p>“Exercise things? Isn’t that something you’d want Maki Roll or even Tenko around to help you with?” The no-nonsense glare that she gave him was enough to tell him that she wasn’t looking for the things for an actual working out purpose, so he chuckled and he started them off in the direction of the mall. There was one giant flaw in Kaede’s idea that reared its head upon them parking outside the main entrance to the mall: they didn’t have Aika’s stroller with them, and there was no way they were making it through the place if Kaede was going to be carrying the girl for herself. That meant that, even though he hadn’t signed up for some casual babysitting and chauffeuring with it in mind, Kaito was the one who had to carry Aika around the mall, while her mother had her way with shopping (and struggling to lug the bags she gathered around with her).</p><p>Nearly two hours later than they’d figured they’d be back, they got back to the house with a sleeping Aika in tow, and once she was laid down in her crib to try and keep napping, Kaito was able to look at Kaede and the determined glint in her eyes and ask her about what she was planning on doing. “I’ve just got to get some workouts in to try and get this baby out when I want, that’s all,” she answered, sounding completely earnest in her explanation. “I’m going to be doing everything I can to make it happen.”</p><p>“Can’t say I fully understand why you’d need this sort of stuff to do that, but if that’s what you think will help!” He flashed her a grin before heading to the door. “You enjoy yourself with this, I’ll see you later! Next week, you’re dropping Aika off at our place at nine, right?”</p><p>“That’s right, nine in the morning so hopefully we can be home the next day, provided that this little one wants to make a move faster than her sister ever did.” Kaede gave Kaito a thumbs-up, which he reciprocated before leaving her to have to organize the things she’d bought while they were at the mall.</p><p>When Shuichi got home that day, he came in to the sight of his wife sitting in brand-new exercise leggings on a ball that she was bouncing up and down on, while Aika was sitting playing with her toys on the floor nearby. “Do I…want to know what’s going on here?” he asked, genuinely curious but also confused about what he’d walked into. “Did someone say something that insulted you? Do we need to ask if anyone can come and teach them a lesson? It wasn’t Miu, was it?”</p><p>“No, it wasn’t Miu, and it wasn’t anyone insulting me. I’ve just got to loosen myself up so that going in for the birth next week is as simple as possible.” That didn’t really explain anything for Shuichi, and so she had to recount what she’d heard at her appointment, more or less, while he was standing by listening to her. When she was finished, he couldn’t say that he quite understood why she was so adamant that things go her way, but he promised her that he’d do whatever he could to support her either way, and that if it came to the so-called worst-case scenario, he’d stay home to care for the kids while she healed up. That was enough to get her to soften her stance on things slightly, but she wasn’t going to go into the birthing center that next week under the mindset that being cut open was a possibility.</p><p>For the next week, spending as much time bouncing on that ball and walking around the house (oftentimes with Aika to get her to really try to get into walking, but she still was not taking unassisted steps), as well as eating just about any meal she could that people on the internet insisted would help with progression the early steps of labor, were the things that Kaede set out to do. And when a lot of her time was spent doing those things, she was draining her energy quickly and spending a lot more time laying down and wishing she could get a good nap in. There was no longer very much beauty in being pregnant, and she was looking forward to when that forty-first week came around and she was finally going to be at the end of the road with this baby.</p><p>
  <em>thirty-six.</em>
</p><p>The morning of June third came with little fanfare and even less sleep, as the aching that carried itself through Kaede’s tired body had kept her up for almost the entire night. She could feel the movements of the baby off and on, almost hyper-aware of them because she knew that this was going to be the last day she felt anything like that for a long time. Her legs hurt from carrying around the weight of the baby for longer than she’d needed to, as well as having been dutifully using that exercise ball every day, but the twitching and pain she felt in them was nothing compared to the discomfort she was feeling in her sides and chest. She’d really put her body through the wringer through the past two years, and she was feeling like she could go no further than she already had.</p><p>They were out of bed and ready to go on time, taking Aika over to Kaito and Maki’s at the arranged time of nine o’clock, but before they’d gotten her over there they’d gotten one mother-daughter picture in front of the baby’s sign, saying that it was the last day of it being the two of them, because it was eviction day for the baby. Unaware as always, Aika had done nothing but be cheesy for the phone’s camera when she saw it, not knowing why she was having her picture taken with her mom that particular day. She wasn’t even aware of what was happening when she, with a bag of everything that would possibly be needed for a day or two, was dropped off in Kaito’s waiting arms, with Maki standing behind him looking like she wasn’t thrilled for what they’d been roped into doing.</p><p>“Next time we see her, she’ll be able to meet her baby sister,” Shuichi said as they were walking away from the now-closed door their daughter had just been taken behind. “What a strange thing to think about.”</p><p>“There’s a lot of strange things to think about right now, like how we’re in this position again.” As Kaede was speaking, she was taking deep breaths, trying to mentally prepare herself for what she knew the day was going to hold for her. She was ready to get to walk with a normal gait, instead of the very staggered and waddle-like one she’d been relegated to using. She was ready to be able to lay on her back in bed and not have her body feel like it was being smashed into the mattress. She was ready to look in the mirror and see someone a bit less rounded than she was, with a baby on her hip to remind her why she’d been the way she was for so many months.</p><p>The entire ride over to the birth center was spent talking about they were hours from their lives changing again for the second time, both of them ready to get to meet the little girl they already loved so much and get to start watching her grow up before their eyes. But as they got closer to the building, Kaede noticed something a bit strange about the world outside the car, specifically that it seemed a bit darker than usual. “Uh, Shuichi?” she said, after they passed a road that was usually marked with bright signs on buildings. “I think there’s a power outage or something around here…”</p><p>“Yeah, I’m seeing that too.” As he was coming to a stop at a traffic light that was out, he glanced over at her to see her beginning to have tears forming in her eyes. “No, don’t cry about this, it’s all going to be okay! We’re not quite there yet, you know? It’s…it’s all going to be fine when we do get there, the power’s bound to be on there. They’re a medical building, they have to have a generator or something.”</p><p>The birth center did, in fact, have a generator, but when they got to the front doors and found them locked, with a sign saying all emergency power was being diverted to the nursery and therefore all services were unable to be ran until power was restored to the area. “So much for things being fine, huh?” Kicking the bottom of the door, Kaede tried to look inside but found it pitch black, and she gave a loud whine when she pulled herself back. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now! This baby is meant to come out <em>today</em> and I am going to make sure she gets out!”</p><p>“Act rational, Kaede!” Grabbing her shoulders to keep her calm, Shuichi turned Kaede around so that he could look her in the eyes as he spoke. “I’m sure they’ll reach out to you to reschedule or tell you what to do next. There’s no way they’ll leave you hanging when they know you were supposed to be here today. Can you promise me you’ll not freak out and worry about what’s going to happen?”</p><p>“She’s supposed to be born today,” she insisted, before sighing and hanging her head. “But I get it, you’re right. I need to not stress myself out because it’ll stress her out, and if we’re both stressed and we don’t know what to do, that’s nothing but bad news. They’ll definitely call me to reschedule when they can, I guess.”</p><p>“There we go, now let’s go home and see if that call comes sooner rather than later. Don’t want to go get Aika just to have to take her back over to Kaito’s if they can still get you in today.” Although it seemed Shuichi was thinking clearly, his voice was shaking as he spoke and he was just as much of a mess as Kaede was, even if it was being presented differently. This time they talked about the now-best case scenarios they could come up with as they rode, them trying to figure out what was going to happen to sort the whole situation out.</p><p>The call they were waiting on came later that day, just before sunset, after a whole day was spent worrying about having been forgotten about entirely. The receptionist on the other side of the phone seemed frazzled, which made sense given the situation, but what she had to offer was far from what they’d wanted to hear. “We’ve got no openings here until a week from today, unfortunately,” they said, Kaede’s jaw dropping at hearing how long that delay was going to be. “I’d be understanding if you wanted to reschedule at a different location, they could have openings before then, but this is where you delivered your first child so I can understand you want to return here for the second.”</p><p>“Is…is it okay if I wait that long?” she asked, timid as she spoke. She knew that forty-one weeks was fine because she’d gotten that far with Aika, but forty-two? That seemed like it was pushing some boundary that shouldn’t have been touched. “I don’t want to agree to waiting if it could be bad for the baby.”</p><p>“Ultimately it’s your call, based on what your records say you’ll be fine unless there’s fetal distress, but as of last week it didn’t seem like that was going to be likely, hence why we’re making the offer. Mrs. Saihara, I can put you through to another location if you’re considering it, it’ll be fine either way.” This receptionist seemed to really know what they were talking about, and their kind tone was enough to put a little fear out of Kaede’s mind. “Also, if anything does happen between today and your appointment next week, if you choose to take it, you can go to the emergency room and they’ll be able to assist you. We are not the only option you have.”</p><p>She wanted to be able to talk to Shuichi about the decision before she made it, but he had stepped out to take a call of his own because Kaito hadn’t actually been told that there was no baby coming yet, and he needed to address that before it got to be too much later. “I’ll stick with your services there,” she chose, wanting familiarity in the situation when it was going to be even stranger than the first time around. “And if anything happens before the appointment, or I think like I can’t keep her in any longer, I’ll definitely go elsewhere. Thank you for calling me about this.”</p><p>“Of course! So let me just get you on the schedule for noon on the tenth, and…done! Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mrs. Saihara.” The call ended and Kaede’s phone slipped from her hand, hitting her stomach before bouncing onto the couch, and she leaned back, groaning as she did. Things over the past week had been hard enough, but now she was in it for one more stretch.</p><p>“Seven days,” she said, closing her eyes and running her hands through the sides of her hair. “What’s one more week?”</p><p>Retaking the picture that night when they had Aika back home with them, so that they could post about the change of plans, had Kaede repeating that question over and over again. One more week until she’d be done being pregnant, one more week until she’d have her new baby in her arms. What was one more week, except a delay to the inevitable?</p><p><em>thirty-seven</em>.</p><p>If she’d thought she’d had enough before, then that last week was absolute hell for Kaede, who was getting even less sleep than she had been, could barely fit into any of her clothes because they’d already been straining for weeks but she’d put off replacing them because she thought she was at the end, and she had absolutely zero patience for anything. That last week was almost exclusively spent with her sitting on the couch or laying in bed, her incredibly swollen feet always with at least two pillows underneath them, a bottle of lotion nearby because she was at her wit’s end with the itching of the skin on her sides, begging for Shuichi to do everything for her. He was suffering too, having already had the week off work because he’d anticipated having a newborn to need to care for, but he was now doing all of Kaede’s bidding when she really wanted something.</p><p>Many tears were shed, many hours were spent with her begging for something to change, but every day she went back to bed knowing that the baby’s heartbeat was still normal, according to their machine there at home. She didn’t feel like she was any closer to going into a natural labor that entire week, even if she felt like her whole stomach had dropped further than ever before, and when the tenth finally came around and they restarted the whole process of getting ready to go to the birthing center, she was beyond done with being pregnant. “Remind me to remember this if I ever decide I want another baby,” she begged Shuichi as she was watching him gather all of their things and get them out into the car. “I’ll definitely think twice about it next time.”</p><p>“If there’s a next time, I’d hope it doesn’t get as derailed as this time did,” he replied, opening the front door to take everything outside. When he came back, he saw Kaede in the exact same spot he’d left her, but Aika was standing in the doorway of her room, where she definitely had not been. “Did…did you see how she got over here?”</p><p>“Who get over where?” Kaede asked in response, leaning forward but being more like a turtle stuck on her back than anything else. He gave her a look that told her to stop joking, but she was being serious. “Aika’s over there? She was here by me, but I didn’t see her get over there while you were outside. She okay?”</p><p>“Yeah, she’s fine, but…huh.” As he brought his eyes back onto the little girl, Aika let go of her grasp on the doorframe and toddled forward with a couple shaky steps, falling forward and catching herself on her father’s leg while he looked down incredulously at her. “She’s walking! Kaede! She’s really walking!”</p><p>It took a second for those words to register in her head, and when she realized what that meant Kaede was trying to get herself up but she was effectively fully pinned down by her over-swollen stomach. “She’s walking and I missed it? Have her walk over here!” He tried to do just that, directing Aika in her mother’s direction, and the girl was able to give a couple wobblier steps before she fell backwards, giving a laugh when she hit the floor. “Oh geez, we’ve got a walker on the exact same day we’re bringing a new baby into the world. What are the odds of that, Shuichi?”</p><p>Shaking his head, he answered, “I have no idea, but that’s going to be quite the skill she’ll be showing off all day for Kaito. Don’t think Maki’s going to enjoy having a walker to watch.”</p><p>“But at least she showed it to us before we took her over there, I’d be so sad if I missed those first real steps because we had other things we had to be doing that day.” The smile the whole thing had brought to Kaede’s face was the biggest she’d felt like giving in days, and when Shuichi came over to help her to her feet he brought Aika with him, so that she could pepper the girl’s face with kisses and give her lots of loving praise for the trick she’d just showed them.</p><p>This time, the picture they took in front of the board was not going to need to be replaced for anything, and once it was properly posted online they were on their way out, ready to get things over with for real. The drop-off at Kaito and Maki’s took longer that day as they decided it would be fair to warn them that Aika had found her feet and could try walking around, and when they went on their way Kaito made them promise that the next time he saw them it’d be to see the new baby. “We have no intentions of it being any other way,” Kaede told him, while Shuichi merely gave a firm nod. “I’m not sure I can go another day with this girl hanging out in here.”</p><p>It turned out, by the count of the doctor at the birthing center once they’d been checked in and taken to the room, that she easily <em>could</em> have gone another day or two before there’d be reason for concern. “Forty-one and five days,” the doctor said as she was writing a note on the chart on the wall. “Pretty close to the upper limit for a safe birth, but this baby’s measuring on the small side so it’ll be a cinch to make it natural, as long as there’s cooperation, that is.”</p><p>“I don’t think you’ve been looking at the right information,” Kaede blurted out in response after giving Shuichi a confused glance. “I’m supposed to be forty-two weeks today, and no one’s said a word about her being small, so…”</p><p>“They must have recalculated it at some point without telling you, but I am looking at your file, I can assure you of that.” Turning away from the chart to look at her gown-wearing patient in the bed and the weary husband next to her, the doctor smiled at them both. “I’m going to get you started on some different medications from the ones we tried last year, to see if they’ll do anything. Before we do that, though, I need to check to see how dilated you are right now, to know how much we should start you on.”</p><p>As the doctor donned gloves to begin the exam, Kaede took in a couple deep breaths and spread her legs, getting her feet as close to the handles they provided as she could before the doctor was getting up close and personal with her. “I’ve heard that I’ve been, like, getting nowhere down there,” she recalled, from the last visit she’d had with her regular doctor, and this one nodded. “But maybe things will be different now that it’s go time?”</p><p>“I’d say so,” the doctor agreed, pulling back with her eyes shining. “We’re going to be hopeful that once we start the medications labor will come quickly, because you are right there. I’ll go gather the things and we’ll get this show on the road.”</p><p>The things in question were a lot more involved than Kaede had expected, because beyond the cocktail of medications she was given through an IV, they were already prepared with an epidural needle if she so chose to have it, and within an hour of getting checked in she was starting to feel the pressure of labor starting. It wasn’t until after they’d manually gone in and broken her water that contractions came in full swing, and after the first handful of them she was almost crying for that needle to be injected in her back. “I wasn’t able to get one last time,” she told the nurses who were there with the needle, “and I really wish I had been able to. Am I at the point where I can get it?”</p><p>It took getting the doctor back in there to make that decision, but the moment the all-clear was given she was repositioned in the bed and they were able to give her the pain medication she was looking for. From the moment it kicked in, the contractions became nothing more than an inconvenient bit of pain and pressure, and the frequent observations of how dilated she was didn’t bother her at all. It felt like things had started faster than they had with Aika, and they were getting to the end faster too—from the moment the doctor called for a nurse to grab the rest of the team and for Kaede to start breathing deeply and trying to push to the moment she was announcing that the head was visible was no more than a half hour. There was a little bit there where it didn’t seem the baby was making any progress, but the moment that one of the other doctors suggested that they move to the operating room Kaede found it within herself to give even more in her pushes than she’d already been giving.</p><p>Squeezing Shuichi’s hand tightly, because she didn’t want to let him go regardless of what she was doing, she couldn’t feel almost anything from mid-abdomen down, aside from the pressure that came with each contraction, and it was with those that she was pushing as hard as she could, not wanting to be stuck going through a surgical operation when she’d gotten so far. Her eyes closed so she could concentrate on pushing, she could tell that Shuichi had moved as close to her as he could get, his lips right near her ear whispering encouraging things to her, giving her the strength to keep going even when she was exhausted.</p><p>The first cry they heard came moments after the strongest push she’d managed to force herself to go through, and as her eyes opened she could see the doctors patting down the body of the baby they were now holding. There was the cord to be cut still, which was when she let go of Shuichi’s hand, but time seemed to be slowing for her as she watched the doctors trying to give a rough cleaning to the baby. When she was laid down on her chest, Kaede looked into the wailing face of the baby as she was calming down, hearing the familiar sound of her mother’s heartbeat, and without really being aware of what it was she was doing she let out a cry of her own and said, “Welcome to our side of the world, Kochou. It’s good to finally see you.”</p><p>She heard Shuichi say something over the sound of the fussing child, but she couldn’t make out his exact words. However, based on how he was looking at her, she could make a guess as to what it was he’d said. “That…is still the name we’re going with for her, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Yes, yes, I wasn’t questioning the name,” he said, waiting until he had a pause in the whining before he’d spoken that time. “I’m just in awe of how fast this all happened, and how—” He was cut off when one of the doctors grabbed Kochou off of her mother’s chest and carried her away, putting her in a plastic bassinet before rolling her out of the room. “—uh, what just happened there?”</p><p>“I don’t know what happened,” Kaede replied, beginning to feel rather lightheaded out of nowhere, “but I do know that I want to take a quick nap. Wake me up when she gets back in here, will you?” Her eyes were already fluttering closed as she was speaking, which was drawing concern not just from Shuichi, but from the nurses who’d stayed in the room even after most of the people left when Kochou had been taken away. The last thing that Kaede could vividly remember was one of the nurses calling her name and asking if she was okay, and then after that her next recollection came in a different room, with a different set of attendants surrounding her.</p><p>It was later that night, and she’d just experienced enough sudden blood loss to cause her to black out in the birthing room, which had prompted them to move her to somewhere more specialized to handle the situation. As she became more aware of her surroundings, the realization that her baby had been taken from her before she’d lost consciousness hit her like a ton of bricks and she asked the closest nurse for information about what had gone on there. “Oh, don’t worry, they just took her for some testing,” the nurse explained, while motioning to a coworker to do something. “Your husband’s with her right now. What a beautiful girl, rather thin for being so far past her due date, but she’s quite adorable.”</p><p>“When can I see her again?” she asked, wanting nothing more than to know she was okay enough to do just that. “Soon, right?”</p><p>“Soon enough, once you’ve stabilized and we’re certain you won’t lose more blood, we’ll be able to move you back into your room and you can see her there.” The nurse hummed a tune to herself as she continued monitoring vital signs, and soon enough the other one came back with a couple doctors and some tests were ran to make sure that the mother was just as healthy as her baby was. When they concluded that she was, and that what had happened was merely a consequence of birth and nothing more serious, they took her back to the other room, finding that Shuichi was still in there, with Kochou nowhere in sight.</p><p>“They took her out because they said you’d be gone until morning,” he told Kaede when he saw the crestfallen look on her face. “Something about needing to monitor her closely overnight and wanting to make sure she was getting fed, which wouldn’t happen if you weren’t here.”</p><p>She huffed, before realizing that perhaps that wasn’t the worst idea in the world. “I mean, if they want to keep her from me, so be it. I’d just like to get to see my baby again, but I’m sure they’ve got their reasons for keeping us apart right now.”</p><p>
  <em>thirty-eight.</em>
</p><p>Just before midnight, the nurses brought Kochou back into the room, so that they could begin to facilitate some sort of feeding for the girl. “In her exams it was noticed that she has a tongue-tie, which will need to be fixed at some point,” one of them said, as the other began preparing the bed for a feeding session. “Because of this, her latch may not be comfortable or even work at all, but she won’t take to a bottle and she needs to get something in her.”</p><p>“I’ll put up with it, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable.” Kaede was under the assumption that it was going to be a slight bit of discomfort, but after the day she’d been through that would be tolerable. Little did she know that after a fair bit of coaxing and repositioning, the level of pain she experienced was more on par with her early, medication-free contractions, and she couldn’t do anything but sit there helplessly as the nurses worked to try and get Kochou feeding. By the time she’d gotten latched and had started to eat, there had been a couple instances of Kaede almost coming to tears from the sharp pain she was feeling, and the nurses had done nothing but keep trying to make things happen instead of realizing that something was wrong.</p><p>That was the name of the game all night, where Shuichi was able to (barely) sleep in the room while Kaede kept getting woken up by doctors wanting to make sure she was okay and nurses needing to get Kochou fed again. By morning’s light she was growing irritated at her perceived incompetence at the whole thing, even though she knew she was doing her best at giving her baby what she needed, and she was ready to be able to go home. But because of what had happened in the time after the birth, they wanted to keep her and Kochou both for an extra day, just for observation, and that meant a lot more of the same routine that had happened overnight.</p><p>The one disruption came midday, when Shuichi stepped out for a minute and came back with friends following behind him, but more importantly with Aika in his arms. “Look who’s here to see you,” he said, bouncing the girl up and down as she noticed that her mom was in the room, screeching in delight at the sight. “I’m honestly surprised they let her in.”</p><p>“We might’ve been up there for a while trying to make sure we could get her back here with us,” Kaito admitted, scratching the back of his head, while Maki looked stone-faced towards Kaede. “It was mostly Maki Roll doing the work, though. You know how scary she can get when she wants something done.”</p><p>“Whatever, I just thought it was dumb they wouldn’t let a kid come meet her sister,” Maki said rather defensively, crossing her arms over her chest. “I gave them what they deserved for being so boneheaded about the whole thing.”</p><p>“It’s good to see you both here, but where’s everyone else? I could’ve sworn Tenko wanted to come in like last time.” Adjusting how she was sitting so that she was fully covered in the bed, because she hadn’t quite covered up from the last attempt at feeding Kochou, Kaede looked at the rather sparse group that had shown up. “Or did they say she couldn’t come back because Aika’s here?”</p><p>Looking between them, Maki was the one who answered. “She had something come up and couldn’t stop by with us. No big deal, guess it means Kaito will get to hold the baby first this time. Speaking of which…where is the baby?”</p><p>“She’ll be back soon enough. We’re having problems getting her fed right and obviously that’s not a good thing.” Giving a single laugh that hurt immediately after doing it, Kaede gestured to where they could all sit down, while Shuichi carried Aika over to her so that she could give her older child a big hug. “It’s so good to see you, sweetie. You ready to get to meet your baby sister?”</p><p>“Ba!” Aika yelled, familiar with the term and knowing how to respond. She was set down on the bed and snuggled right up to her mom, but there was obvious temptation in her little gaze as she kept looking at the IV drip still in her mother’s arm. The first time she grabbed the cord she was immediately scolded, but the second time she was able to give it a little yank, which gave her an earful as her mother yelped at the pain of it being moved in her arm slightly. Confused, Aika looked at her with her light eyes wide with worry, and there weren’t quite words available to explain to the girl why what she’d done was wrong.</p><p>“She’s definitely wanting to get better at walking,” Kaito started saying while they waited, passing the time with talking about his adventures in babysitting. “It’s kinda fun, watching her try to cross a room and needing to fall down a bunch before she gets it right. Didn’t fall and hurt herself any time, though, as far as I’m aware.”</p><p>“She could’ve hit her head on the wall if she’d fallen backwards the one time she fell on her face,” Maki reminded him, “but you yelling at her to be careful startled her into falling safely. Somehow.”</p><p>“We’ll have to keep an eye on that as she’s getting more comfortable on her feet,” Shuichi said, looking at Aika and how she was babbling to herself while still nestled next to Kaede’s side. “There’s going to be a lot going on in our house when we get to go back tomorrow.”</p><p>Both speaking at once, Kaito and Maki both exclaimed, “Tomorrow?” before getting an answer that told them why that was the case. Since a lot of the details hadn’t really been made super clear, it was hard to properly explain why a second night there was necessary, but just talking about excess bleeding was enough to give them a decent picture. “Ah, well, anyway, we’ll be good to watch Aika again tonight,” Kaito told them after giving it some thought. “And if anything comes up to keep that from happening, we’ll just pawn her off on someone else. I bet Ryoma’d be down for it on such short notice. Or maybe even Gonta, he’d get a kick out of an overnight with her, wouldn’t he?”</p><p>“Gonta! I forgot we need to tell him that his little butterfly was born yesterday!” Mentally smacking herself for making such a mistake, Kaede looked at Shuichi with a sheepish smile. “Mind sending him a picture of her when you get the chance? He won’t see it right away, I know, but he’ll appreciate seeing it when he does.”</p><p>“Can do, I’ll get him one when she gets brought back in here.” Nodding to let her know he meant business, Shuichi patted his pocket where he’d put his phone after needing it to know that their friends had arrived for their visit. That brought comfort to Kaede’s mind because it was one less thing she needed to worry about, but she now had her friends in there with her and no child to show them at the moment, and the fact that she was clearly concerned about that was something else that Shuichi noticed. “Do you want me to see if they can bring her by now, while they tell you about their night with Aika?”</p><p>“That’d probably be helpful, I don’t want to keep them here all day if I don’t have to.” Feeling like she could fall asleep right there with her daughter by her side, Kaede didn’t want to come off as rushing the whole meeting but she also didn’t want to spend most of it unaware of what was going on. “They shouldn’t object to it, I haven’t heard any reasons why they would.”</p><p>He went out to do exactly as he said he would, which left the room open for other conversation while they waited for him to come back. “I don’t mean to come off as insulting or anything, but you look like you’ve been through hell a few times,” Maki said, keeping her eyes shifted just away from Kaede’s face. “Was it all worth it?”</p><p>“I mean, I’d say it was, she’s such a cute little baby,” Kaede answered, pursing her lips together as she thought about why she looked so rough, between the lack of sleep and the whole medical emergency thing that had happened. “The birth itself definitely wasn’t as bad as last time, but everything else…yeah, it sucked, but it was worth it.”</p><p>“I don’t know how anything could be worth being stuck raising a kid, but if that’s what you want to do, then I’m glad it was worth it to you.” Sighing, Maki gently shook her head before leaning against Kaito’s shoulder. “I found out the things I ordered you arrived last night at your place, by the way. You’ll have plenty of boxes to sort through when you get home, unless you’re cool with us coming over to do it right away.”</p><p>Perking up at the mention of going over to their house, Kaito added, “Yeah, we’d be willing to do that! Someone’s gotta update your baby board for you, and since I did it last time I was <em>kinda</em> hoping you’d let me do it again. Definitely made me appreciate Aika’s name when I did it, so it’ll give me that start on this kid’s name.”</p><p>“Uh, sure, you can come over when we go home tomorrow and help us out, it’ll be appreciated to have the extra hands while we’re getting settled in.” Stifling a yawn as she spoke, Kaede really hoped that Shuichi would be back soon, because she could feel herself growing more comfortable and tired by the minute. So, to occupy her mind, she placed a hand on Aika’s leg and gave it a squeeze. “I’m excited to see how this one handles having a baby sister around, it’s either going to go really well, or it’s going to go horribly.”</p><p>Aika looked up at her mother, innocence in her eyes, and confidently said, “Ma, ba,” which Kaede figured was supposed to be taken as an assurance that the meeting would go well.</p><p>Something definitely seemed strange when Shuichi came back with the nurses bringing the plastic bassinet with them, and nothing was said to those already waiting in the room until the door was closed. “They’re just doing extra monitoring of all the babies this week, but no one will say why,” he explained once the nurses were gone. “It’ll be nice when we’re out of here and don’t have to worry about their watchful eyes, but at the same time, there’s bound to be some reason for why they’re being so hypervigilant.”</p><p>“Does that really matter?” Kaito asked, as he jumped to his feet to rush to see the baby. “This girl’s just like a bunch of skin and bones, what were you doing to her while she was growing inside ya, Kaede?” He seemed to be immediately enamored with her, crouching down to get a better look at her face while he was cautioned to not touch her.</p><p>A bit stunned by the question she’d been given, and actually unsure of how to answer it, Kaede gave it her best shot. “Oh, I don’t know, her being so scrawny was kind of a surprise to me as well, given how heavy she was to carry around for so long.”</p><p>“She’ll grow into her skin, I’m sure,” Maki said, coming up beside Kaito and giving him a gentle smack for what he’d said, before looking down at the kid for herself. “She looks a lot like Aika did when she was born, minus the fact that she’s so thin. Guess they’ll probably grow up the same way, won’t they?”</p><p>“Definitely not going to help people suspecting that they’re twins when they’re older, that’s for sure,” Shuichi laughed, while going to pick up Aika from where she’d been sitting. Separating her from her mom’s side was hard, but carrying her over to get her first look at her baby sister was worth it, because the moment Aika’s eyes found their way to her sister’s face she was gesturing with her little hands and telling everyone that she saw the baby. “Now that you’ve seen her, you’re going to have to work on saying her name,” he gently told the girl, bringing her closer to the baby’s face. “So let’s start practicing now. Her name is Kochou, can you try to say that?”</p><p>Scrunching her face as she got within reach of Kochou’s sleeping form (how she was still asleep with all of the people talking, it wasn’t clear), Aika gave it a thought before loudly calling out the only way she knew how to refer to the baby: “Ba!”</p><p>“Y-yes, right, that’ll be enough of that for now. We’ll get to using her name later, I suppose.” Still laughing, Shuichi watched as Aika’s hand brushed against Kochou’s patchy red cheek, her recoiling at the touch, before going in for a grab, which promptly woke the baby up to screaming, which in turn caused Aika to begin to panic and scream as well.</p><p>Deep down, Kaede knew this was her life for the near future, but as her friends handled calming Kochou down—mostly Kaito, because he was the one who was able to hold her first, while Maki watched him and Aika was put back on the bed to stay out of the way—she knew that she was going to be able to handle this. There was absolutely nothing regarding these two girls she wouldn’t be able to handle, because she loved them more than anything in the world.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>tw: medical drama</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>thirty-nine.</em>
</p><p>Being discharged from the birthing center for both mother and daughter took longer than it had with Aika’s birth, because the doctors were slightly concerned with Kochou’s weight, but they sent her home under the strict warning that she needed to be monitored every few hours. “How hard can that be?” Shuichi had asked as they were on the ride to pick Aika up from Kaito and Maki’s, with Kochou asleep in the backseat and Kaede sitting next to her, constantly looking at her with panic in her eyes. “After all, she’s going to be waking up all the time, we can just monitor her when you’re feeding her.”</p><p>“Something tells me that’s going to be part of the problem they’re so worried about,” Kaede replied, touching Kochou’s cheek on one of its reddest spots. “Didn’t you hear them talk about how they think she hasn’t been getting any nutrients? And that’s why she’s so small?”</p><p>“I did hear that, but it’s all going to work out. Just keep an eye on her all the time and eventually there’ll be no reason for concern.” If only it was going to be as easy as that, and Shuichi knew that he was being optimistic with that statement, but he didn’t want to make things even more stressful than they already were going to be with a newborn in the house, as well as Aika around to keep an eye on.</p><p>That first day at home was absolutely brutal, as it seemed that nothing would keep Kochou from crying if she was awake, not moving or being cradled or listening to music being played off a recording meant to soothe fussy babies. The only time she’d been quiet, other than when she was sleeping, was the one time she’d actually managed to eat something for a sustained amount of time, and the few minutes after that were the only time that day that Kaede was able to look down at her and see her with her pale eyes half-open, her face still red but not from anger. “You’re such an upset baby, aren’t you?” she whispered down to the girl, who predictably didn’t react in any way. “Don’t worry, I know you’re going to grow out of the crying all the time, and things will be fine. It’s how it worked with Aika, after all.”</p><p>It was after that meal that they were able to get a picture in front of the board to announce Kochou’s birth to the world, because she was still awake and not crying, so there wasn’t any worry about her being woken up from one of her many needed naps. Much like he’d said he would, Kaito had come by and changed the letters on it, and earlier in the day after getting home Kaede had been able to write all of the important details down in preparation for the picture. It felt weird that Shuichi wasn’t able to be in it with her like he’d been in the one for Aika, but they didn’t have another set of hands to use to take the picture and he wasn’t going to try to do it in selfie-mode.</p><p>Almost immediately after the picture had been posted online they were getting calls from people asking if they could come see the new baby, but because there was a bit more care and attention needed for Kochou they limited the visitors to just the people who they knew would be able to control themselves around the baby. It ended up being that just about everyone who came by left relatively quickly once Kochou was back to crying and stressing her parents out. The only one who lasted longer than half an hour was Kirumi, who valiantly tried her best to assist them however she could but ended up doing laundry and cleaning while the parents were occupied with both children (as Aika had decided she was over not getting attention at that point).</p><p>For every bit that first <em>day</em> was hard, that night was even harder. Kochou would not stop crying, she would not make any attempt to latch onto anything to eat, and she would only get worse if she wasn’t actively being held by someone. The amount of noise she was making kept Aika up as well, and she wasn’t enjoying being second-best to the whining baby so she was taking part in some loud, sustained crying as well. There were several moments that night where Kaede looked at Shuichi, them both exhausted from the lack of sleep they were in the middle of, and wanted to ask if what they’d done to themselves was worth it. She knew it was going to be difficult in those first days, but this felt almost impossible to work through. He seemed troubled by it as well, ultimately taking Kochou for himself and walking her around the house to keep her out of Aika’s sight while Kaede worked on getting the older girl to fall asleep in her arms.</p><p>When morning came neither parent had slept a wink, one child had finally dozed off for about an hour in her parents’ bed before waking up and being taken back to her own room, and the other had slept finally after completely exhausting every ounce of energy her tiny body had. It was only after Kochou had fallen asleep that Kaede remembered they were supposed to be monitoring her weight and making sure that she was hitting all of the guidelines for having been released in the first place, but she didn’t want to unleash the beast and cause her to start crying all over again. “Here’s an idea, you sleep now while she’s still sleeping, then when she wakes up you can do the monitoring and I’ll take a nap,” Shuichi suggested, while handing Kochou off to Kaede just long enough for him to get into the bed next to her, only to take her back. “She seems like she’s going to be out for a while.”</p><p>Nodding almost thankfully, Kaede relaxed in bed and quickly fell asleep, only to be woken up what felt like immediately after she’d first closed her eyes; it was about two hours later and Kochou was back to crying endlessly, much to Shuichi’s dismay. “I got it, you can sleep now,” she said with a yawn as she got out of bed and grabbed the baby for herself. “I’ll take her out to the piano and see if that helps any.”</p><p>“Remember to weigh her first, and feed her too,” he said before reclining in the bed to get some sleep. “You don’t want to forget that again.”</p><p>“I’ll do my best not to,” she assured him, walking out of the room with the crying Kochou in her arms. Every time the girl took in a shallow breath and went on crying, it broke Kaede’s heart just a bit more, but she was just about out of ideas for what to do to try and console her. She even went as far as to attempt feeding her while playing the piano, but because Kochou still wouldn’t latch for more than a few seconds at a time, all it did was create a mess that Kaede didn’t want to have to clean up with holding the child at the same time. Everything felt like it was falling apart, and they hadn’t even been home for a full day at that point.</p><p>There was really nothing to do but to soldier on, expecting things to get easier for them over the next few days; quite the opposite happened, much to their dismay. When even Kaito, who had never seemed to have a problem with Aika when she’d been a fussy baby, was put off by being around the constant noise and pitiful crying, a clear limit of tolerating the crying had been reached. “I’d love to be able to help you, I really would,” he said, standing outside their front door with a half-awake Shuichi there to keep him company while he waited for Maki to come back to pick him up. “But man, I thought hearing babies crying in the store was rough, and now it’s even worse over here.”</p><p>“You don’t have to make an excuse about it,” Shuichi told him, shaking his head while he could still hear Kaede in the background trying to get Kochou to stop crying. “This is a lot different than it was with Aika, and we’re just having to figure things out with her one hour at a time, honestly.”</p><p>Kaito nodded, before cupping one of his ears with a hand. “Hey, uh, I think Kaede’s calling for you. Probably wanna go check that.”</p><p>“You’re…right, that’s what that sounds like.” Awkwardly waving at him as he closed the door and went to investigate what was troubling his wife, Shuichi found that the source of the wailing was growing quieter, until it had disappeared and he found Kaede in their bedroom, Kochou laying on the scale they’d been given by the doctor on the bed. “What’s going on in here? We could hear you yelling for me out front.”</p><p>“Sh-she’s breathing weird,” Kaede choked out, and Shuichi could tell that tears were actively rolling down her cheeks without being able to see them. “I actually got to feed her for a couple minutes and then she started…wheezing? Choking? I don’t even know! and I tried calming her down but it didn’t work and she started crying and now she’s…” She motioned to where Kochou was swaddled and laying oddly still, minus her whole body nearly spasming with each breath she took. “I think we need to take her to get looked at.”</p><p>“Er, yeah, I agree,” he replied without a moment’s hesitation, already going back to the door. “I’m going to let Kaito know he needs to stay around to watch Aika, you get her in her seat so we can go.” Adrenaline was fueling him as he ran through the house, welcomed Kaito back in, and got to the meat of the problem with him when Kaede came out of the bedroom with Kochou cradled in her arms. “Kaede, I thought I said get her in her seat…”</p><p>Shaking her head, Kaede explained why she hadn’t listened. “I want to keep her in my arms, just in case something happens on the way.” Then, as she was walking towards the front door, she looked back at Kaito and begged him to keep Aika safe for them while they were gone, a promise that Kaito was more than ready to keep for them.</p><p>
  <em>forty.</em>
</p><p>That drive over to the closest hospital had been fast and felt like it was endangering the life of an already-ailing child, as Shuichi could not convince Kaede to put Kochou in a proper seat, her insisting on holding her the entire drive. That did save them time on buckling and unbuckling when they got to the emergency room doors, Kaede able to run Kochou in while Shuichi took care of parking, and by the time he’d gotten inside they’d already been taken back for the initial examination.</p><p>He was allowed into the room at the moment that Kaede told the nurse that the baby was five days old and had done nothing but cry when she was awake up until right before they’d come in. A flash of panic came across the nurse’s face as she called for smaller machines to use to check Kochou in, the girl awake and breathing but unresponsive to just about everything given how young she was. When she was weighed, that was the first moment that Shuichi had actually been present to hear how much it was since she’d been initially discharged after birth, and when the number came to being nearly a quarter of her weight smaller than last time, he immediately looked at Kaede, who was staring in disbelief at what she’d seen as well.</p><p>“It’s typical for a newborn to lose ten percent of their weight in the first week, but this is rather dramatic of a fall-off,” the nurse commented, as another brought in a small incubation box like the ones used in the nursery. “We’re going to go ahead and get her in to the specialists, to see what could be causing the problems. Based on what they wrote before she went home, this was a possibility they’d been concerned with, so…” She trailed off as her companion moved Kochou from the scale to the box, wheeling her off without either parent in tow. “We’ll get you up to her in a moment, there’s just some more checkboxes I have to go through on the list before I release you to her.”</p><p>“We’ll answer anything,” Kaede blurted out, her mind solely focused on getting back with her baby. “What do you need us to tell you, we’ll do it.”</p><p>The nurse’s questions were rather typical, but she kept referring to her computer before asking each one so she was clearly going down a list that she wasn’t familiar with. There were the questions about substance use, about potential abuse that the girl could have sustained (which made both parents feel horrible about needing to be asked, for the fact that other people would easily lie about that answer), and about what the home life in general was like. The question that really caught them by surprise was when the nurse clapped her hands together and asked, “How are you feeding her? Specific as possible, please.”</p><p>“Oh, um, she’s always been struggling with latching but we’ve been trying breastfeeding as best as we can, otherwise she’s getting pumped milk.” While this was in regards to a child less than a week old, it didn’t seem to make sense why it mattered how Kaede was feeding her, until she connected that question to the drastic drop in weight. “But I have been trying as often as possible to feed her, don’t think I’m starving her!”</p><p>“Kaede, sometimes it’s better to say less than over-explain yourself,” Shuichi whispered to her, while the nurse was writing down exactly what had been said.</p><p>“No, the explanation helps with the documentation. Ma’am, I need you to tell me exactly what you’ve eaten in the past forty-eight hours. Do not leave anything out.” Speaking with a grave seriousness, it almost came off as the nurse not believing that there was zero usage of anything illegal, but Kaede wasn’t going to question her reasons for why she wanted such specific details. The next couple minutes were spent with her recalling everything she could, and Shuichi adding in ingredients whenever the nurse would ask for even more details. “Interesting, thank you,” she said once they’d finished their list. “Last question, then I can take you up to the next waiting room. Have you given her anything for the obvious skin reaction on her face?”</p><p>Both of them looked at each other, shaking their heads in unison. “It’s been there since she was born,” Shuichi answered, to which Kaede agreed. “The doctors at the birthing center never really mentioned it to either of us.”</p><p>“Thank you once again,” the nurse mumbled, finishing her notes before shutting the computer’s screen off and opening the back door to the room, the same door that the other nurse had left out of with Kochou. “We’ll get you upstairs and the doctors in the children’s wing will be able to communicate with you further. I noticed that your older daughter is under the care of Dr. Reina at the pediatrician’s office in this complex, so I sent a request for her to swing by and chat with you about this as well.”</p><p>“That’s helpful, we appreciate that.” Kaede was fond of Dr. Reina and how she’d been in charge of Aika’s health every chance she possibly could be. Having both girls being taken care of by the same doctor just seemed to make sense. The nurse wasted no time getting them up to the fifth floor of the hospital, one floor higher than the pediatrics wing that Kaede remembered going to with Aika when she’d been sick. There were other parents sitting in the waiting room when they got there, couples who looked tired and heartbroken, a mother who was holding a doll in her hand, a father leaning over in his seat trembling between sobs. This was not a very hopeful place, and Kaede found herself clinging to Shuichi for comfort when they were sitting down, him trying his best to assure her things were going to be fine.</p><p>The other people came and went, being replaced with other parents who needed somewhere to wait for news about their children, and it felt like time was dragging. To occupy their minds, Shuichi had sent Kaito a text to see how Aika was doing, getting a picture in response of the girl playing with her toys with him, while Maki was clearly sitting in frame. “Guess she decided to stick around and wait,” he told Kaede, who gave a halfhearted shrug at the statement, her focus clearly elsewhere. “At least we know both girls are in good hands right now, whether we’re with them or not.”</p><p>As he was tucking his phone into his pocket, she heaved a sigh and leaned into his arm. “I wish they’d just tell us what’s going on at this point,” she said, referring to the doctors and not to their friends. “This is the absolute worst feeling, not knowing what’s going on with our baby when we’re right down the hall from wherever she is.”</p><p>“I know, but we’ve got to give them time. They’ll let us know when they can.” Familiar with how long it could take to get details when investigating was necessary—not in a medical setting but in the crime world—Shuichi was trying his best to keep Kaede from worrying too much about the wait. But that was difficult when the waiting never seemed to end, as people who came up after them were getting to leave before anyone checked in on them.</p><p>Their saving grace came in the form of Dr. Reina herself, a lovely woman with long hair pulled back into a tight braid that she wore straight down her back. “Hello, Saihara family,” she greeted, drawing a chair for herself and sitting down across from them as they both looked at her expectantly, waiting to hear what she had to say. “Never did I think we would meet up here, but strange things do happen from time to time. Has anyone given you an update about your daughter today?”</p><p>When both of them shook their heads, she drummed her hands on her thighs for a second before exhaling a long breath. “Right, guess it’s for the best that they had me come tell you. Let’s go down to a private room so we can discuss this without any listeners.” She laughed, even though both of them remained silent, and soon they were on their way down the hall to an office-like room that seemed set up for important meetings with families. Once again they took seats across from each other, Dr. Reina looking as serious as she could manage. “First things first, she’s fine. Adorable little girl, looks just like her older sister did when she was a baby, minus the…”</p><p>“The what?” Kaede asked, hearing Dr. Reina trailing off. “The thinness? We’re aware of that already, she’s been thin since she was born.”</p><p>“Ah, fair enough then.” Getting right back into the conversation, the doctor put a smile on her face. “Then I suppose that you’re also already aware of what the potential diagnosis is for what’s ailing her?”</p><p>“Not so much on that part,” Shuichi said, watching Dr. Reina’s facial expression go from serious to one containing a fair amount of surprise. “When they originally released her they just wanted her monitored after every feeding, but they didn’t say why so we figured it had to do with her size. Or perhaps even her tongue-tie.”</p><p>Nodding as she took in his information, Dr. Reina’s face went back to her more serious expression once she’d mentally processed what was going on. “That’s completely irresponsible of them, given what the medical team here is working with as their potential diagnosis. How did not a single person stop to tell you that her body seems to be rejecting most of the nutrients being put into it, because they’re coming across as unwanted allergens that she simply cannot handle?”</p><p>“Allergens?” Repeating that one word, and that one word alone, Kaede felt like she was even more in need of explanation than she had been before. “I thought I read that babies really don’t have allergies until they’re older. How could she be allergic to something so young?”</p><p>“Medical mysteries are an everyday phenomenon, I’m afraid. Just based on the information you gave the check-in nurse—which, by the way, thanks for being thorough with that—we can conclude that she has some sort of intolerance or allergy to proteins you’re taking in through your food and passing to her through your milk supply.” Steepling her fingers as she leaned in closer to the couple, Dr. Reina continued, “What she was brought in for today was a textbook anaphylactic reaction to…something, which has been narrowed down to a rather short list simply based on your list of meals. I’m inclined to believe that the culprit is—”</p><p>She was cut off by the sound of banging on the office door, which she ended with a wave as another doctor stumbled in. “Reina, the child’s breathing has to be supplemented with steroids at this point,” he announced, motioning back behind him with a shaking hand. “The medication she was given to help abate the reaction only caused more of a reaction that took her deeper into respiratory distress.”</p><p>“—and that’s our cue to head down there. Thank you for the update.” Standing up from her seat, Dr. Reina saw the completely shocked look on the two faces staring back at her and she shook her head. “I know, what you heard is not what you wanted to hear, but I feel it’s best that you see what is being worked with first-hand. I cannot let you in the room, of course, but I can let you see through the window.”</p><p>“I don’t know if I want to see,” Kaede admitted, grabbing Shuichi’s hand and holding it tightly in her own. “I can’t imagine what it’d be like to see Kochou like this…” She was starting to cry, which only made Shuichi sidle closer to her and give her a shoulder to lean on as they followed Dr. Reina down the hall, until they passed through a set of doors that latched loudly behind them and they were faced with rooms that each had windows large enough to peer through as a way for doctors and the occasional family member to see what was happening inside. Dr. Reina was quick on taking them down to where Kochou’s room was, stepping aside so that they could get a full view of the baby in the plastic box.</p><p>The child they saw was completely unlike the one they’d last seen earlier that day, her long, bony limbs swollen and laying on the bottom of the box like she was asleep, her whole body at least double the size it had been before. “She started to swell before I arrived, as the doctors who were already here were trying to push her past the wheezing and inability to properly breathe,” Dr. Reina explained, seeing the now horrified looks that were being exchanged between the parents. “Unfortunately, from the sound of it, further medication only made matters worse, and to add a steroid into the mix…well, you may be taking home a newborn who no longer fits into her newborn clothes for a while. There’s the chance that the excess fluid will dissipate on its own, but it’s just as likely that it won’t.”</p><p>Once he found it within himself to speak, Shuichi asked, “How will we know which way it’ll go? That’s quite a difference either way.”</p><p>“We’ll know once she can be weaned off the steroid and breathe well on her own again, I’d say. Just from the looks of this medical mystery, she may be in here for a while. A week, perhaps?” Shrugging, Dr. Reina looked inside the room for herself before walking around the couple to enter. “I’ll get back to working on her medical care plan. In the meantime, feel free to either return to the waiting area or come back to visit later. We want to keep this room free of any other potential allergens to muck up an already messy situation.”</p><p>Even though it made sense as a reason to not be allowed in, it was not something either of them had wanted to hear and they ended up walking back down to the waiting area arm-in-arm, both in various states of crying. “I’m going to let Kaito know we’re not going to be back anytime soon,” Shuichi said while Kaede, sobbing into her free arm, didn’t respond to him in any way until he tried to pull away from her. “Come on, let go, Kaede. I have to do this before he thinks we abandoned Aika.”</p><p>“R-right, sorry,” she apologized, letting him separate from her side so that he could go make his call. The whole time he was gone she was inconsolable, crying like she’d actually lost the baby she’d just seen in that hospital room. Whatever had gone wrong, she knew that Kochou didn’t deserve a moment of it, and she wanted nothing more than to take her daughter’s suffering onto herself. It wasn’t right that a newborn was struggling so much, and may as well have been since birth, without her knowing a thing about it until it was too late to stop it on their own. If only she’d known sooner, she could’ve done something about the allergens, or tried to find out what Kochou’s actual problem with eating was, or why she was still so lanky and doing nothing but losing body mass.</p><p>Nothing about that day was easy, nothing about taking in that news and having to process it came with any sort of guidelines to follow, and that caused quite the struggle sitting in the waiting room. All Kaede could ask for right then was the answers to what specifically was wrong with her child, but as Shuichi kept reminding her, they’d need to be patient for as long as it would take to get that information brought out to them. Lots of tears were shed, several more phone calls were made, and it wasn’t until after dark had fallen on the world around them that Dr. Reina came back out to meet them, looking like she’d been through the wringer on the case. “They’re going to move her to a room where one of you can stay with her overnight, but she’ll be here for at least a week, as I guessed before. Since you have another little one at home to care for, I’d recommend switching off every day just so both of you can spend time with both of them. If all goes well, she’ll be moved to a room with more space for visitors soon enough.” It wasn’t elaboration on what was going wrong, but it was a step in the right direction, something they had to be thankful for.</p><p>Deciding who got to stay there with Kochou first was tricky, because they both wanted to be the one there so badly, but holding the guilt of it being partially her fault in her heart Kaede let Shuichi take the first shift. “I can take care of Aika for one night without you,” she promised him, after they’d tearfully hugged out the decision. “I’ll just make sure that I really focus and maybe let her have your half of the bed for a change.”</p><p>“I’d be careful with that, don’t want her falling out and getting hurt,” he reminded her, but it wasn’t a serious reminder meant to deter her decision. “But I’ll see you and Aika both tomorrow night, and you’ll see Kochou then.”</p><p>The fact that it was going to be a whole day before she’d get to see the girl again didn’t sit well in her stomach but Kaede accepted it as a necessity and soon enough she was leaving the hospital with the keys to the van in hand and a rough description of where it had been parked to go find it. Her drive home was spent with her mostly crying, trying to get all of her emotions out before she needed to get back into the mothering mindset, knowing that she wasn’t really to blame for anything but that she felt like she’d done everything wrong with her own two hands. Even when she got to the house, she sat outside in the van for a while, sniffling and letting tears continue to dribble down her cheeks; finally, though, she collected herself well enough to go inside.</p><p>Kaito and Maki were both in the living room waiting, Aika asleep on the couch between them. “It’s about time one of you got back,” Maki grumbled, moving to stand up but being stopped by Kaito holding an arm out and knocking her back to sitting. “What’s with that, Kaito? We’ve been here all day, we’re going home.”</p><p>“C’mon now, Maki Roll, I think Kaede needs some company to keep her mind off things. We’re gonna stay here as long as she needs us.” He flashed a grin at Kaede, whose pitiful attempt at returning the favor resulted in her strong demeanor cracking and tears beginning to cascade down reddened cheeks again. Turning to Maki with a horrified look on his face, he added, “Now do you see why we’ve gotta be the ones here for her?”</p><p>Maki rolled her eyes, while Kaede sat down at her piano and gently lay her fingers on the keys, the resulting note loud but unable to cause Aika to stir from her sleep. “I’m going to play music for a while before I go to bed,” she explained, leaving out the step where she’d need to move Aika off the couch as well as the step where she’d need to eat dinner of some sort. “Just to clear my mind.”</p><p>“Oh, well, we’ll be your audience for it!” Kaito was doing his best to be supportive, and even though she wanted to go home Maki resigned herself to having to be present just a bit longer as well. “Go on and play whatever’s on your heart and we’ll love it!”</p><p>To fit the mood of the day, she played Kochou’s Lullaby, the song she’d created specifically for her second child to hear—while knowing that the girl was nowhere nearby and definitely unable to listen to such a haunting, slow piece that went thematically along with the fact that she was currently hospitalized for some relatively unknown reason. At times she switched to Aika’s Lullaby instead, or would intertwine them with one hand playing one song while the other played the second, but it was clear that this time spent at her piano was doing the exact opposite of clearing her mind. In fact, she was fixating on what had gone wrong, and she was letting that be known with how many times she intentionally hit sour notes in the melody of the lullabies, paused, sighed, and went back to play it over, hitting a different note that was completely and intentionally wrong.</p><p>Being a mother was hard, but being a mother to an ill child was a suffering she’d never thought she’d experience in her formerly-perfect little world.</p><p><em>forty-one</em>.</p><p>True to what Dr. Reina had said, Kochou was in the hospital for a week, then had to go to daily appointments over at her office for the following two weeks just to make sure that everything was still going fine. It was during those daily visits that they finally had what was considered a “rough” list of the potential triggers for Kochou’s miserable condition, which would be verified when she was around six months old (as that was when allergies normally started to become prevalent in children); just seeing the list and all of the broad categories on it had initially worried the parents just as much as the first allergic reaction revelation had.</p><p>Because none of them were set in stone, and wouldn’t be for some time, they had to play it safe and pretend as if all of them <em>were </em>legitimate allergies that Kochou had, and that meant making giant changes in everyday life. The choice had boiled down to either Kaede forcing herself through a modified diet that would contain none of the allergens, so that she wouldn’t pass them to Kochou, or feed Kochou specially-made formula that was allergen-safe, and while neither option was going to be fun or easy, one had to be made. They went with the second one, just because it was deemed the easier and less painful way to go, even though some changes were made to the food kept in the house so that there wasn’t as much of a chance of an accidental allergic reaction for the girl.</p><p>The reason the change to formula was so difficult was that it was incredibly expensive and had to be ordered through Dr. Reina’s office, because of the chance that what could be picked up on store shelves could contain something unwanted. “The last thing you need is for a bit of milk powder, or soy powder, or wheat powder, getting into the formula can and into her bottles,” the doctor had explained when she’d placed the initial order. “This is what they were feeding her while she was in the hospital and it’s what she’ll be eating at least until we can test all those allergies as true or false.”</p><p>“You don’t…really think all of those allergies are real, do you?” Kaede asked in return, still looking at the long list. “I mean, some of them have to be, but I’ve never heard of someone being allergic to all these things.”</p><p>“Unfortunately it does happen, and it seems likely that she is allergic to all of it, and if not then she could very easily have an intolerance.” Pausing as she looked at the list for herself, Dr. Reina shook her head and continued on with typing up notes about the meeting. “The only one I’m not fully, personally convinced on is the potential wheat allergy, I’d be more concerned with her being gluten intolerant more than anything else. That we’ll find out when we can run her allergy panel.”</p><p>All of this information was incredibly overwhelming, especially with how overall simple Aika’s care had been when she was little, so for these future appointments and special accommodations needing to be made for Kochou it seemed almost foreign. But with that order having been place, and another can of the special formula having been given to them there that day, the daily visits to the office had come to an end and they were able to return to somewhat normal lives—even though their understanding of normal had been completely decimated at that point.</p><p>Every day up until Kochou turned one month old felt like a blessing, a gift that they hadn’t been guaranteed to any extent. Seeing her thrive on her special formula, her body having finally been able to put on actual mass as opposed to the swelling that she’d endured in the hospital, it was almost as if she was a different child than the lanky baby they’d brought home with them. Without being actively hurting by eating, she was much calmer than she’d been before and she could easily lay in someone’s arms wide awake for a while without screaming her head off, her eyes docile and her little mouth always curling as if she was trying to suckle something. Everyone she’d pushed away from wanting to see her was eagerly visiting whenever they could now, because she was a completely different child than she’d been when she’d first come home.</p><p>Aika loved having her baby sister around when she was quiet, always coming up to whoever was holding her and pouting (with an expression that would match Kaede’s pout exactly) until she could grab her sister’s cheeks and squish her arms and legs. She was careful not to get too close to the eyes or mouth, most likely because she’d learned <em>not</em> to touch her parents’ eyes and mouths, but on occasion she’d stick a finger in Kochou’s mouth just to pull it back out immediately and cackle in laughter. “At least they’re getting along for now,” Shuichi said after watching Aika do that entire act one day, while her sister was laying peacefully in her mother’s arms. “Who knows what it’ll be like when they’re older. Did you and your sister fight much?”</p><p>“Can’t really say,” Kaede replied, her eyes closed as she was soaking in the peaceful moment she appreciated so much in her life. “My relationship with my sister wasn’t really the greatest, she hated me for not being the bonus child, we’ve gone over this. I know that my girls aren’t going to have that same problem, though, because they’re never going to be compared to each other. They’ve both got their own strengths that we’ll appreciate.”</p><p>“Let’s hope the rest of the world can see them that way, then.” Giving a small smile in the direction of both girls, Shuichi saw Aika turn to him with her eyes wide, and before he could react she was running at him, only for her foot to turn on its side when she took a step, her landing hard on her ankle rather than the bottom of her foot. The resulting scream snapped Kaede out of her blissful state, as well as shocked Kochou into crying, while Shuichi looked in horror as Aika’s foot righted itself but she couldn’t seem to step on it again.</p><p>After he explained what he’d seen happen, and Kaede was able to react by expressing her worry, they decided to keep an eye on it to see how it lasted the rest of the day, because a surprise doctor’s visit for it would not be the best use of their time that day. After all, they’d made plans for the occasion of it being one month since Kochou’s birth, and something about sacrificing those for unrelated medical issues seemed like it wouldn’t be worth it.</p><p>Not long after both girls had calmed down (although Aika’s leg looked somewhat swollen and she was resting it on the arm of the couch with ice on top), there was a knock at the door, which Shuichi went to take care of. He wasn’t shocked in the slightest to see Mahiru on the other side, holding her camera with one hand as she came inside. “I know we’d planned to do a photoshoot sooner than this,” he said, as he closed the door behind her, “but things came up, so I’m glad you could reschedule with us.”</p><p>“Trust me, there’s nothing I’d rather do than rework my schedule to see some of my favorite clients.” Smiling at him, Mahiru seemed completely genuine with her words, but her smile turned to a grin when she saw Aika, Kochou, and Kaede all on the couch. “And there they are! Three beautiful ladies, what a treat to get to take pictures of you all!” She faltered slightly when she noticed how Aika was laying, asking what had happened, but because they really didn’t know how to explain it they just kind of let it get shrugged off. “Okay, well, I have some fantastic ideas for what to do today, and the best part is that we won’t have to leave your house.”</p><p>“That sounds amazing. Lay it all on us, we’ve got all day to do this.” Kaede knew to wholly trust Mahiru’s vision when it came to her photography, and she knew that it shouldn’t be too difficult to get things done with the girls as they were. That didn’t change when Mahiru explained everything she’d thought up for the shoot, and it all seemed completely reasonable and easy to pull off as a family.</p><p>“So…why don’t you all get ready in whatever clothing you’re planning on wearing for this while I grab my props?” Mahiru, setting her camera down on the closed piano, headed for the door, turning back to see that they hadn’t immediately jumped to follow her directions. “Come on, it’s not like we want to actively waste time when there’s so much we can do, get a move on, will you?”</p><p>Her impatience was merely playful, which was perfectly fine, given that she was there to provide them with a service; by the time they’d changed into more photogenic clothing Mahiru had set up a mini photoshoot set in the living room, complete with backdrops and things for the girls to interact with. “What exactly is your plan for this?” Shuichi asked, while Kaede was fiddling with a bow she’d tied around Kochou’s head, Aika wearing a similar one in her dark hair. “Are you going to take a lot of all of us, or are you going to focus mostly on the girls?”</p><p>“I figured we could do a little of everything.” Mahiru replied, gesturing to the wide array of things she’d set up in the room. “Make the most out of the day, give you a lot of pictures to treasure for the rest of your lives, spend time with some of the cutest children I’ve ever gotten to meet…it’s all going to be great today.” She picked her camera back up and turned it on, pointing its lens towards Kaede and the girls. “Now go on and smile, I’m going to take candid pictures as well as staged ones so you better be prepared.”</p><p>Even with her leg swollen from toes to mid-calf, Aika was quite the star of the pictures, putting on the most forced smile she could manage every time she saw the camera pointing in her direction. She wasn’t great at following Mahiru’s directions when it came to how to pose, but she certainly posed like her life depended on it, always looking like she was about to be attacked if she so much as moved. That, added with the fact that Kochou was a baby and didn’t do much more than just look around at the world around her with a blank stare, meant that when the pictures were of just the girls, they were immediate treasures. When it came to family pictures, though, it was a different story, as holding a position where all four of them looked great was difficult.</p><p>“That’s what editing’s for,” Mahiru said time and time again, when she’d get multiple shots in the same pose with something wrong in each one. “I promise you, when you get these pictures back you’ll never be able to tell that these girls couldn’t keep it together for one solid shot.”</p><p>“I look forward to getting to see the magic you work on them,” Kaede replied after a particularly stressful attempt at a picture, where Aika had proceeded to nearly punch Kochou on accident several times because of how she kept trying to position herself. “But I already know that the ones you got of just the girls will look nice.”</p><p>“Yeah, actually, about that, mind if I try getting one of just the two of them together? All I’ve gotten without a parent with them has been candid shots, but I’ve got a picture in mind I’d like to get.” At that, Mahiru reached into her bag of loose props and pulled out a stuffed butterfly, which she held up between two fingers. “Butterflies <em>are</em> still the theme, aren’t they? Wouldn’t that make for a neat picture?”</p><p>Shuichi and Kaede shared a look, both of them shrugging at the idea. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot,” he agreed after she motioned for him to be the one to speak. “What do you need them to do for it?”</p><p>Like always, Mahiru was ready to give specific directions for posing, but this time it was much more crucial that they be followed to the letter. She had Aika sitting cross-legged on a blanket, up against one of the backdrops, and in her lap they positioned Kochou so that she was also sitting up, with the butterfly covering her lap. It was nearly impossible to get them to hold the pose, with how Kochou couldn’t support herself upright and Aika wanted to get to move and do as she pleased, but somehow (with treats as a bribe) Mahiru was able to pull the shot off. “That’s going straight into the portfolio,” she remarked when she looked at the preview on her camera, showing it to Kaede who agreed with the statement while Shuichi quickly retrieved Kochou from her precarious position. “You two have some beautiful girls, can’t wait to see them grow up and be two little divas who love the camera.”</p><p>“You really think they’re going to grow up like that?” Kaede asked, almost wary of why Mahiru would say such a thing. “I think we’re going to try to raise them to be well-rounded girls, but…divas? Really?”</p><p>“Both of them have a thing for the camera. Aika’s definitely going to want to be a star when she’s older, but I can’t say for certain about Kochou. All I know is that I am so here for taking pictures of them as often as you need me to, if it’s just for personal use or for getting them in the limelight.” That wasn’t the end of the photoshoot by any means, but it felt like the highest point of the day; something about having a photographer on-call for the girls if they ever needed one just felt unreal. Whether they would or wouldn’t would be a decision made years down the line, but knowing it was an option was sweet, and when it came to paying Mahiru for her time and work that was reflected in the amount she was given. It could have easily been a cheap compliment but Kaede appreciated it, and when she told Shuichi what had been said he agreed that they money they paid was plenty enough to thank her for her time, efforts, and willingness to be there in the future.</p><p>
  <em>forty-two.</em>
</p><p>The following months flew by like they were no time at all, leading to new changes and events in the family’s life. Inhaling deeply, Kaede checked the number on the office before opening the door and walking inside, two sizable file folders tucked under her arm so that she didn’t accidentally drop them. The waiting room was brightly-colored, but the woman at the reception desk looked bored with her life, as if this office wasn’t busy enough for her. “How can I help you?” she flatly asked as she saw Kaede approaching. “If you think you’ve got an appointment, you’re either late or super early.”</p><p>One strike right there, talking to her like that, but Kaede wasn’t going to let a sour receptionist make her change her mind. “No, I’m here to drop off my children’s medical records. They’ve both been under the care of Dr. Reina since they were born, and when she transferred here she encouraged me to bring them here to keep her caring for them.”</p><p>“Right, hand the files over.” The receptionist held out a hand—with nail polish missing on two fingers and half-there on a third—and Kaede hesitated on giving her the folders before convincing herself it was the right thing to do. With how particular the care both girls needed was, it wouldn’t make sense to have to build rapport with a new doctor unless absolutely necessary. When the files hit the receptionist’s hand, she gave a overdramatic noise, taking them onto her side of the desk and cracking into the smaller of the two. “Let’s get these kids into our system, shall we?”</p><p>“Yeah, that’d be appreciated,” Kaede replied, not moving from her spot as the receptionist started typing in the details from the cover sheet of the file, watching every keystroke as carefully as she could.</p><p>Noticing this, the receptionist scoffed, “What, you think I’m not suitable for typing in this kid’s information? Go find something else to watch, lady.”</p><p>That was the second strike, and Kaede bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything on the matter. “I just want to be here in case you have any questions, although Dr. Reina definitely would be able to answer them. We saw her with both girls the last week she was at her old office, so she’d—”</p><p>“Why is this telling me a two-year-old has been treated for multiple sprains of her ankle in the past six months?” the receptionist loudly asked, making Kaede flinch at the volume. “Is this an abuse situation, or are you incompetent?”</p><p>“—actually, if you’d look into Dr. Reina’s notes, you’d know that Aika has weakness in both legs from the knee down, and she’s susceptible to sprains and breaks.” Eyes shifting to behind the counter to see if there was anyone else around who could work on these files, Kaede couldn’t see a soul and she was beginning to dread what she knew was going to come. “I can promise you that she’s perfectly healthy minus that, and we’re working with her on strengthening her legs to keep the sprains from being as frequent.”</p><p>“Whatever, it isn’t right for a kid that young to have that many issues.” Internally, Kaede was thinking about how this receptionist was in for a rude awakening when she got to the second file, but at the same time she was not looking forward to that at all. She kept her eyes peeled for any sight of someone else, whether it be Dr. Reina herself or maybe a relief receptionist, as the one at the desk finished entering Aika’s information in the system and set the file aside, opening up the much, much larger one and snorting at what she saw. “Is this an authorized list of allergies?” the receptionist asked, which meant her eyes had been drawn down to the bright red markings on the cover sheet, glossing over the patient information completely. “Or is this your way of trying to harm this child too?”</p><p>“Authorized, Dr. Reina can tell you all of them without missing a beat, as she’s the one who arranged the allergy testing in the first place.” The receptionist looked up at Kaede, eyebrows raised, and challenged her to name them off as well, which caught her completely by surprise at how unprofessional it was. “Er, well, you can see the list right there, can’t you?”</p><p>The receptionist shook her head, touching the part of the file that listed the name and age, and after doing a double-take, she said, “A…child at a year old would never, and I mean never, have this many allergies listed on their record. Go ahead and tell me them, or I’m flagging this one for review.”</p><p>Now she really didn’t want to continue with this receptionist, but without anyone else being present there wasn’t much Kaede could do except get the files back, but she knew making that request then would be too little too late. “Dairy, eggs, and soy, those are the food allergies,” Kaede recalled, the receptionist holding her nose in the air at hearing it, “and before you say a word, yes they’re actual allergies and not just intolerances. She’s also allergic to most pain medications and antihistamines have a special notation that they need to be only administered in a medical setting. Is there anything else you want to quiz me on?”</p><p>“No need for your attitude,” the receptionist replied, typing something into her computer before closing Kochou’s file and picking it up, standing from her chair. “I’ve got to run this one by the staff before I can input it, you go have a seat and someone will be here to take care of you soon enough.” Under her breath, the receptionist muttered something about medical fraud and how the file was clearly faked, and if she hadn’t known it was going to be a bad idea Kaede would have jumped over the counter to wrestle for it back from her.</p><p>To humor the receptionist, though, she had a seat right by the counter and waited for someone to show up to speak to her. She could hear loud arguing in the back area of the office, the receptionist raising an alarm about Kochou’s files and whoever she was talking to trying to argue something about it, but specifics weren’t really audible. Finally, though, Dr. Reina herself came out into the waiting room with the file in her possession. “Mrs. Saihara, I’m terribly sorry about whatever you had to go through with this,” she apologized, brandishing the much-smaller file than what had originally been delivered. “I don’t know what her problem was, but she took some of the important paperwork to the <em>shredder</em> back there because she thought it was falsified.”</p><p>“She did what?” Kaede asked, getting to her feet to meet the doctor by the door. “Which parts of it got destroyed?”</p><p>“The entire section about her hospitalization history, which I can thankfully retrieve from the hospital itself. The boss is back there writing her termination papers now for the act, but the audacity for someone to do something so blatantly wrong…” Dr. Reina shook her head, before ducking back into the other part of the office, only to come around to the receptionist desk herself and taking a seat at the computer. “I’ll get Kochou in the system myself. How’s she doing, by the way? Her birthday party go as well as you’d hoped it would?”</p><p>“Nobody enjoyed her cake as much as she did, and thankfully no one tried giving her a piece of the real cake or we’d have had some problems.” Twirling some of her hair as she talked about the party from the week before, where everything that Kochou was allowed to get had been strictly monitored for its allergens before given to her, Kaede smiled down at the doctor as she was typing. “Aika’s ankle is doing better now, too. Still wrapping it every day because she cries if it’s not wrapped, but we’re only wearing the bandage during the day.”</p><p>“Progress on that front, excellent. If you’ll bring both girls in sometime later this month so I can get a checkup on record here at this office, it’d be helpful. Need to look at that pesky ankle again for Aika, and check on Kochou’s lingering steroid reaction. The fact that someone with access to her folder still gave her something on the list and then followed it up with another banned medication is concerning, but that’s what urgent care is known for.”</p><p>“She was wheezing and I couldn’t get her in to see you, I did what I felt was best.” Three months before, they’d ended up with a contaminated container of formula that had unmarked allergens, which had sent Kochou into an anaphylactic reaction without anyone realizing it until she was struggling to breathe. Kaede hadn’t known what else to do and had rushed her to the closest doctor, which happened to be at an urgent care facility, and they’d disregarded what her medical records said to try and treat her immediately. That had resulted in the girl having to be placed on steroids for a week to straighten up her lungs and breathing capacity, at the cost of her whole body swelling like a balloon and resisting returning to normal for some time. She still had puffiness in her face and hands, but for the most part the rest of her was back to its normal level of pudginess (which, to anyone unfamiliar with it, did still seem concerning).</p><p>“You had her seen by someone who should have known better, it’s what I would have done in the situation as well.” Dr. Reina looked up from the screen, her head tilted slightly to one side. “Remind me, when was it that we ran the allergy panel? Five months or six months?”</p><p>“It was right before Christmas, so six months. Would be helpful if we had the papers that said that, huh?” She was glad she could remember when it had happened, but it didn’t feel like that was something that Kaede needed to know specifically; if she got the chance she would have give that former receptionist a piece of her mind.</p><p>A minute or so later and Dr. Reina was standing up, collecting the files for both girls and holding them tightly in her hand. “They’re in the system now, but as I said we’ll need to get them in sometime this month to have some solid records to go off of. I’d schedule the appointment for you but I’m not familiar with that part of the system, so if you could call over in the morning that’d be best. Tell whoever answers that I’m aware of them being new patients and that I would like them to see me as soon as they can.”</p><p>“I can definitely do that, thank you.” Nodding as she spoke, Kaede felt grateful that of all the people who were able to get involved, the doctor herself was one of them. As she left the office, she reminded herself that she’d need to leave a note for herself somewhere to make that call in the morning, and she thought about that—and not the mess that had taken place—until she was out at her van, Shuichi in the driver’s seat and both girls in their chairs in the back. “Sorry that took so long,” she apologized when she opened the door, both children screeching at the sight of their mother. “There was a…bit of a hiccup.”</p><p>“Let me guess, something in Kochou’s records didn’t want to transfer?” Shuichi suggested, watching Kaede as she got in the van and closed the door after she was seated, seeing her face scrunch at the guess rather than looking like he’d guessed it in one. “Well, now I’m curious. What happened?”</p><p>“I’d…rather not get into it in front of them.” Something about the idea of talking about how the receptionist had thought she was falsifying records of two children who had vastly different medical histories in front of those very same children didn’t feel right to Kaede, as she looked back at the girls. She could see Kochou’s round face in the mirror on the back of the seat, her car seat still rear-facing as it was safest for her, while Aika was straining to reach forward to try grabbing her mother’s arm. “Let’s just say that someone was rather unprofessional and rude and might’ve destroyed some records because they thought they were fake.”</p><p>“Did they get fired?”</p><p>Kaede nodded. “Dr. Reina said that they were in the process of doing it. Thankfully they’re all records that she can access from elsewhere, or else we’d be in big trouble.” She reached back to Aika, bumping her hand against the bandaged ankle that had been the initial cause of trouble with that receptionist, and the girl squeaked at the touch. “Oh, sorry about that, Aika! Didn’t mean to hurt you!”</p><p>“’kay, Mama,” the girl replied, not sounding too bothered even if it had hurt her half as bad as she’d made it sound. She wasn’t screeching anymore, having calmed down and gone back to her usual state of sitting quietly, waiting for something exciting to happen around her. Meanwhile Kochou was having the time of her life looking at her mother’s reflection in her small little mirror, blissfully unaware that so much drama had just happened because of her.</p><p>“Well, all’s well that ends well, right?” Shuichi asked, while Kaede turned back around in her seat and buckled up so they could go. “If she can get the files back then it’s just a minor inconvenience for right now but not for the future.”</p><p>“True, true.” Thinking for a moment, Kaede glanced back in the rearview mirror to see the two girls there, and she smiled to herself. “If there’s any more problems with it, we’ll find out when I bring them in for their next appointments, if we can make it that long before a visit is necessary. Which, uh, I hope we can make it that long.” Sure, the life Kaede had thought she’d have included a lot of piano concerts and alone time with her husband, but she wasn’t going to complain about needing to push just about everything aside to take care of her children. Motherhood was stressful, but damn it she was going to make sure her little girls were as happy and healthy as they could be, given the circumstances.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>and that's the end! it was really, truly fun getting to jump back into this story universe and write the backstory for my favorite fankid punching bag (yeah, I love to make kochou's life hell, it's kind of a running thing at this point).</p><p>I hope everyone enjoyed this fic! no I'm not going to write a third story that's basically (un)usual from the saihara side of things, (un)usual is a good story and does the job of explaining that boring third time in short.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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